Reith is a Scottish surname, and may refer to:
*
John Reith (general)
General (United Kingdom), General Sir John George Reith, (born 17 November 1948) is a retired senior British Army officer who was the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from October 2004 t ...
*
John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith (; 20 July 1889 – 16 June 1971) was a Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. In 1922, he was employed by the B ...
, Scottish broadcasting executive (Lord Reith of the BBC)
*
Douglas Reith, British actor
*
Peter Reith, 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 is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...
or
Pictish
Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic 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 geog ...
cognate of
Welsh ''rhyd'', meaning 'ford'.
* A less likely explanation is that it denoted somebody originally from
Reeth,
Northern England
Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...
.
* It could, at least in some cases, be a variation of
Reid.
In North America, this surname has absorbed several like-sounding surnames.
See also
*
Baron Reith
*
Reith (Magna Carta)
*
Wreath
A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring shape.
In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and C ...
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