Reed (name)


Reed[] may be either a surname or given name.

Reed as a surname

"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 families in the 18th century, notably that of John Reed, 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 and 183rd 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.

Reeds of Northumberland

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..."
The Reeds of Northumberland were one of the Border Reiver families of the 16th century, who lived by blackmail and cattle rustling in the Anglo-Scottish border country.
One notable Reed was Percival Reed, believed to have been Laird of Troughend in the 1580s and 1590s. His story has been handed down in The Death of Parcy Reed, a traditional Border ballad. This song tells of an alliance between the Halls of Redesdale and the Crosiers of Liddesdale in Scotland, against the Reeds. Percival Reed held the office of Keeper of Redesdale, and had arrested one Whinton Crosier for raiding in the valley. This put the Reeds at feud with the Crosier family. The Halls, old friends of Percy Reed, turned against him and conspired with the Crosiers to trap him while he was out hunting. When the Crosiers ambushed Percy, the Halls watched as he was murdered. Percy stood alone unarmed against the Crosiers, and according to the ballad:
Percy Reed's ghost is said to have haunted Redesdale for many years, and "at times he would come gallantly cantering across the moorland as he had done when blood ran warm in his veins....And yet, again, he would come as a fluttering, homeless soul, whimpering and formless, with a moaning cry for Justice—Justice—Judgment on him who had by black treachery hurried him unprepared to his end."

In Norway

Many Norwegians use a last name derived from their family farm or town. Reed is a village in Sogn og Fjordane county in Norway. As of 2010, 325 share the surname Reed.

Geographical distribution

At the time of the United Kingdom Census of 1881, the frequency of the surname Reed was highest in the following counties:
As of 2014, the frequency of the surname was highest in the following countries and territories:
As of 2014, 78.4% of all known bearers of the surname Reed were residents of the United States. The frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following U.S. states:
The frequency of the surname was highest in the following U.S. counties:
There are many notable people who share the Reed surname. These people are listed below to provide a partial geographical and time reference for use of this name. People listed below are presumed to be white unless otherwise indicated parenthetically; this information is included as ethnicity is an important parameter in name studies. Ethnicities found below include African American and Jewish. Multiple items on a line is indicated by a superscript number associated with country of origin. All information included in the list below has been drawn from the referenced articles without input from other external sources.

Born after 1300

"Reed" is an uncommon male and female given name. In the United States, "Reed" fluctuated among ranks of 400th to 1100th from 1881 through 2006, showing peaks in 1995 and 1949 and a nadir in 1886. Information for other countries has insufficient depth to detect use of "Reed" as a given name.

Born after 1800