KIPLING
Kipling is a surname of distinctly English provenance, first recorded in the early medieval period of the British Isles. Its roots lie in the linguistic heritage of Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxon peoples who settled the island of Great Britain during the early first millennium.
The name originates from the Old English word cypling or cyppeling, a diminutive form meaning “a young person” or “a child.” As a patronymic surname it originally served to identify the descendants of a man known by this nickname. Over the centuries the spelling of the name varied, reflecting changes in dialect and orthography.
Geographically the surname is associated with two places in Yorkshire. The village of Kiplin in North Yorkshire derives from the pre‑7th century term Cyppelingas, “people of Cyppel,” with Cyppel being an ancient personal name. A second locality, Kipling Cotes in East Yorkshire, comes from Cybbelingcot, meaning “the cottages of Cybbel’s people.” These settlement names appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chipeling and Climbicote. The earliest securely dated spelling of the family name is that of James Kiplynge christened on 10 January 1564 in Thirsk, Yorkshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
The most celebrated bearer of the name is Sir Rudyard Kipling (1865–1933), an English novelist, short‑story writer and poet. His creation of the world‑renowned characters in The Jungle Book and Just‑So Stories established the Kipling surname on the international literary stage. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 in recognition of the richness of his work and its influence upon English narrative prose.
In contemporary times the surname remains relatively uncommon. Office for National Statistics data indicate that in 2018 there were only about 1 590 people in England and Wales bearing the name Kipling. In the United States the 2020 estimates identify roughly 840 individuals with this surname, largely concentrated in the eastern and mid‑western regions, where immigrants from the British Isles settled in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Variations of the surname have developed over the centuries, including Kippling, Kipplin, Kipping, Kippin, Kypling, Kyplin, Kyppling and others. These variants reflect phonetic spelling changes and the adaptation of the name to different dialects and languages. Despite these differences, the core elements of the name’s origin as a patronymic derivative of an Old English personal term remain evident in all forms.
Thus, the surname Kipling encapsulates a linguistic lineage that extends from early Anglo‑Saxon society through to contemporary times, with its most famous bearer providing a lasting cultural legacy associated with nineteenth‑century British literature and the broader heritage of the British Isles.
Typical given names associated with the Kipling surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Angela
- Beverley
- Christine
- Dawn
- Emma
- Jean
- Joan
- Joanne
- Margaret
- Mary
- Michelle
- Sarah
- Susan
- Wendy
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Kipling in...
Braille
⠅⠊⠏⠇⠊⠝⠛
Morse
-.-...--..-....-.--.
Semaphore
There are approximately 1,319 people named Kipling in the UK. That makes it roughly the 5,933rd most common surname in Britain. Around 20 in a million people in Britain are named Kipling.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Kipling
- Rudyard Kipling - Short-story writer, poet, and novelist (1865 to 1936)
- John Kipling - Son of Rudyard Kipling (1897 to 1915)
- John Lockwood Kipling - Artist (1837 to 1911)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.