# Keith (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/keith/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A Scottish surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 48,487 |
| US rank (2010) | 718 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 6,368 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.7% (46,747 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /kiːθ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a Scottish surname, from the placename in Moray, Scotland, from Scottish Gaelic Cèith, meaning "wood" or "from the battleground," which is probably borrowed from Pictish *ᚉᚓᚈ (cēt) meaning "wood", or a forest, from Proto-Brythonic *koɨd. * As a German surname, from Middle High German kit (“sprout, offspring”); compare Middle High German kint.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Keith in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 15% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.1% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Keith in the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom.

## People named Keith

- Toby Keith, American country music singer and actor (1961–2024)
- Brian Keith, American actor (1921–1997)
- David Keith, American actor and film director
- Robert Keith, American actor (1898–1966)
- Ian Keith, actor (1899-1960)
- Arthur Keith, British anatomist and anthropologist (1866–1955)
- Ben Keith, American musician (1937–2010)
- Megan Keith, British athlete
- Donald Keith, American actor (1903-1969)
- Jeff Keith, American musician
- Elmer Keith, American rancher
- Richard Keith, American actor, writer, director

and 7 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Keitt, Keita, Kidd, Kite, Kato, Kitt, Kohut, Kott, Kot, Kohout, Kyte, Kuta.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.