[PW] Origin of family name (Kee)

swguardian-wombat at yahoo.com swguardian-wombat at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 1 14:44:16 PDT 2007


Middle names are often given to recognize a relative, ancestor or some 
one the parents admired. Sometimes it was after someone famous, some 
times not. Parents also gave the mother or a grandmother’s maiden name, 
at times, as a baby's middle name. 

The surname Kee/McKee (Mc and Mac meaning son of) is from Scotland, 
with ancient ties to Northern Ireland. Some early versions of the name are  MacKye, MacKaw, MacCoy. The Gaelic form of the name is Mac Aoidh or 
Mac Ai in Inverness. Their ancesters are thought to have been Picts. 

You can read about it's use as a surname in detail at the McKee Surname Page: 
http://www.angelfire.com/on/mckee/

kee nethery <kee at kagi.com> wrote: My full name is Stanton Kee Nethery III. My father and his father  
went by "Stan". I got the same full name but was referred to by the  
middle name "Kee". Sr. died before I could ask him the origin of the  
name "Kee" and Jr never really cared since he didn't use it  
personally. Consequently I have no clue where the name "Kee" came from.

There are a handful of anglos around North America with the name  
"Kee" and they all have connections to the Navajo or other indian  
tribes, either via proximity or blood relations. Supposedly "Kee" is  
the slang term for "boy" in Navajo. My grandfather (Sr.) is from  
Louisiana and there is no Navajo connection that I've ever heard of.  
My father thought that the name might have come from some famous  
pilots (either Kee or McKee) who did a long duration flight stunt  
long ago but those guys did the stunt after my grandfather was born  
(1907). I know of no relatives with the name "Kee" upstream of me so  
I'm guessing there must have been someone famous around the time of  
his birth. My father was also thinking that perhaps the name was a  
misspelling of some other name but again, he didn't really know.

Any idea where my middle name (the one I go by) might have  
originated? For me it is a 50 year old mystery.

Thanks,
S. Kee Nethery III
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