Keddy

This most interesting surname is a Scottish name, and is a patronymic form of the Gaelic name "MacAddie", which itself comes from the Hebrew personal name "Adam", borne, according to Genesis, by the first man, and often said to derive from the Hebrew "adama", earth, as Greek legend has it that Zeus fashioned the first human beings from earth. Adam itself was very popular as a given name throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. The surname is found in the modern idiom as Kedie, Keddy, Kiddie and Kiddy. It first appears in records in the late 14th Century, when the first recorded namebearer, a Scotsman, was shipwrecked at Holkham in Norfolk, England (see below). One John Kady was recorded in Dysart in 1577 in the "Notices from local records of Dysart". Thomas son of George and Agnes Kaidie was christened in Edinburgh on April 25th 1616, while Margaret Keddie was recorded in Falsyde, the parish of Roberton in 1623, in "The Commisary Record of Lanark, 1595-1722". Alexander Ceddy was fined for "straicks and ryot" in 1664 and Donald Kedde of Moy, Caithness was apprehended as a rebel in 1670. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Kede, which was dated 1388, in the "Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland", during the reign of King Robert 11, Ruler of Scotland, 1371 - 1390. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.