Keppy - Name

This name is of Scottish locational origin from the lands of Kippo in Fife, so called from the Gaelic "ceapach" meaning a tillage plot, the component elements being "ceap" or "cip" - "land cleared of tree-stumps", hence, suitable for agricultural, plus, the locational suffix "ach" meaning "dweller at" or "of the ceap". The surname is first recorded in the mid 17th Century, (see below). On September 1st 1784 the birth of Mary Kepey, daughter of Thomas and Isobell Kepey, was recorded in Edinburgh parish registers, and on April 20th 1810 the marriage of one, John Keppy and a Mary Quelain was entered in the above registers. The name is recorded as Kippie and Keppie in mid 19th Century Fife registers. On August 25th 1858 Andrew Tait Keppie and Anne Thomson were married in Dunfermline, Fife. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Keapie married Isobell Lasoun, which was dated November 7th 1661 in the Edinburgh Parish, Midlothian, during the reign of King Charles 11, known as "The Merry Monarch", 1660 - 1685. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.