Reith is a Scottish surname, and may refer to: * John Reith (general) *

John Reith, 1st Baron Reith John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith, (; 20 July 1889 – 16 June 1971), was a British broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. In 1922, he was employed by t ...

, Scottish broadcasting executive (Lord Reith of the BBC) *

Douglas Reith Douglas Reith is a British actor and teacher. He is best known for his role as Lord Merton in the television series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010-2015), as well as its two follow-up films. Early life Reith was born in Melton, Suffolk. He studied act ...

, British actor *

Peter Reith Peter Keaston Reith (15 July 1950 – 8 November 2022) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1982 to 1983 and from 1984 to 2001, representing the Liberal Party. He was the party's deputy leader from 1990 ...

, Australian politician

Origin

The origin of this Scottish surname is uncertain. However, there are explanations as to its origin: * It may be an anglicized and reduced form of ''Mac Raith'', meaning 'son of grace' (see McRae). * Another possibility is that it is a habitational name and comes from a

Cumbric Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the '' Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the sout ...

Pictish Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographic ...

cognate of

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

''rhyd'', meaning 'ford'. * A less likely explanation is that it denoted somebody originally from

Reeth Reeth is a village west of Richmond in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, in the civil parish of Reeth, Fremington and Healaugh. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is the principal settlement of up ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

. * It could, at least in some cases, be a variation of Reid. In North America, this surname has absorbed several like-sounding surnames.

Origin

See also