Keats (surname)
Etymology
The surname Keats is believed to have originated with the Anglo Saxon 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 Devonshire, 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 and Gloucestershire. The Keats coat of arms is a silver shield overlaid with three dark silver mountain cats beneath an Armet 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. Members of the family name Keats made their way to the New World, settling in such places as Newfoundland, Maryland, Boston, Philadelphia, and Anchorage.
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 (1895–1972), Canadian Hall-of-Fame ice hockey player
- Ed Keats (1915–2019), United States Navy rear admiral
- Ele Keats (born 1973), American actress
- George Keats (1797–1841), British-born American businessman and civic leader, brother of John Keats
- John Keats (1795–1821), English poet
- John Keats (writer) (1921–2000), American magazine writer, author and biographer
- Jonathon Keats (born 1971), American conceptual artist and experimental philosopher
- Jonathan Keates (born 1946), English writer, biographer and novelist
- Richard Goodwin Keats (1757–1834), British Royal Navy admiral and Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland
- Roger A. Keats (born 1948), American businessman and politician
- Tyson Keats (born 1981), New Zealand rugby union player
- Steven Keats (1945–1994), American actor
- Viola Keats (1911–1998), British actress