Reed (name)

Reed
Family name
variations on red
Meaning	variant of Reid, which refers to reddish or ruddy facial complexion
Language(s) of origin	English
Related names	Read

Reed may be either a surname or given name.

"Reed" is commonly believed to be a nickname-derived surname referring to a person's complexion or hair being or red.

At least one example of the Reed surname, that originating in the County of Northumberland in northern England, is derived from a location, the valley of Redesdale and the River Rede that runs through it.

In the United States, Reed was adopted by some Pennsylvania Dutch (German) families in the 18th century, notably that of John Reed (Johannes Reith), a former Hessian soldier from Raboldshausen, Germany, who made the first documented gold find in the United States in 1799. The Reed Gold Mine is today a State Historic Site in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.

'Reed' appears as a surname most commonly in English-speaking countries, especially in the United States, where it was the 55th most common surname in 1990 accounting for about 0.12% of the population. In Great Britain, 'Reed' ranked at 158th (0.081%) and 183rd (0.073%) in 1881 and 1998, respectively, with little or no change in internal distribution among counties during the intervening century. In Ireland, Reed is among the 100 most common surnames, and in the Irish province of Ulster it is among the 40 most common surnames. The relative frequencies in 1998 among several countries were United States >> Great Britain > Australia ~ New Zealand ~ Canada >> Northern Ireland >> Ireland.

'Reed' has been adopted by several notable actors as their stage surname in preference to their birth names (see #Pseudonyms and aliases, below).

The Reeds of Northumberland in England were originally centered around the chief Reed residence at Troughend in Redesdale, on the banks of the River Rede. According to Sir Walter Scott,

The earliest reference to the Reeds of Troughend is from 1400, when "Thomas Reed of Redysdale" is recorded in county records as paying "to William de Swinburne in the sum of 20 pds...for the ransom of William Moetrop of Tenedale". In 1429 Thomas Reed is again recorded, as serving on a jury in Elsdon. In 1442, a John Reed is described as "the Laird of Troughwen, the chief of the name of Reed, and divers of his followers...a ruder and more lawless crew there needs not be..."

...
Wikipedia