The family name Keats is a

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Etymology

The surname ''Keats'' is believed to have originated with the

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

culture, perhaps from the old English word cyta or cyte, a worker at the shed, or an outhouse for animals, hence herdsman. It can also be attributed to the Middle English word kete or kyte (the bird) from greed or rapacity. The family name Keats emerged as a notable family name in the county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

shire, where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated at Kitts, and they were the lords of the manor and of now extinct baronets. They also branched into

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. The Keats

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

is a silver shield overlaid with three dark silver mountain cats beneath an

Armet The armet is a type of combat helmet which was developed in the 15th century. It was extensively used in Italy, France, England, the Low Countries and Spain. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the head ...

and embroidered with vines and leaves of alternating colours of red and silver. As of the 1891 census in England, most Keats's or Keates's were resident in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. Members of the family name Keats made their way to the New World, settling in such places as

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

People with the surname

Notable individuals bearing the surname include: * Abigail Keats (born 1986), South African fashion designer * Charles B. Keats (1905–1978), American politician and journalist *

Duke Keats Gordon Blanchard "Duke, Iron Duke" Keats (March 1, 1895 – January 16, 1972) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played for the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association (NHA), Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Canada Hocke ...

(1895–1972), Canadian Hall-of-Fame ice hockey player *

Ed Keats Edgar Salo Keats (January 30, 1915 – March 2, 2019) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living graduate of United States Naval Academy. Keats graduated from the USNA in 1935. Keats was a nav ...

(1915–2019), United States Navy rear admiral *

Ele Keats Ele Keats (born Elemy Georgescu; August 24, 1973) is an American television, film and stage actress, model, and jewelry designer. Keats's most notable roles were in the Disney musical drama film '' Newsies'', Garry Marshall's '' Frankie and Joh ...

(born 1973), American actress *

George Keats George Keats (28 February 1797 – 24 December 1841) was a British-American businessman and civic leader in Louisville, Kentucky, as it emerged from a frontier entrepôt into a mercantile centre of the old northwest. He was also the younger broth ...

(1797–1841), British-born American businessman and civic leader, brother of John Keats *

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

(1795–1821), English poet *

John Keats (writer) John C. Keats (1921 – November 3, 2000) was an American writer and biographer. Biography Keats was born in Moultrie, Georgia. He attended the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania before serving in the United States ...

(1921–2000), American magazine writer, author and biographer *

Jonathon Keats Jonathon Keats (born October 2, 1971) is an American conceptual artist and experimental philosopher known for creating large-scale thought experiments. Keats was born in New York City and studied philosophy at Amherst College. He now lives ...

(born 1971), American conceptual artist and experimental philosopher *

Jonathan Keates Jonathan B. Keates FRSL (born 1946) is an English writer, biographer, novelist and former chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund. Biography Jonathan Keates was born in Paris, France, in 1946. He was educated at Bryanston School and went on to read ...

(born 1946), English writer, biographer and novelist *

Richard Goodwin Keats Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats (16 January 1757 – 5 April 1834) was a British naval officer who fought throughout the American Revolution, French Revolutionary War and Napoleonic War. He retired in 1812 due to ill health and was made Comm ...

(1757–1834), British Royal Navy admiral and Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland * Roger A. Keats (born 1948), American businessman and politician *

Tyson Keats Tyson Keats (born 6 June 1981) is a New Zealand rugby union player who last played for London Welsh in the English Premiership. His position of choice is halfback, his contributions intangible. Keats is currently playing club rugby for the ...

(born 1981), New Zealand rugby union player * Steven Keats (1945–1994), American actor * Viola Keats (1911–1998), British actress

Etymology

People with the surname

See also