Killian
A surname often linked to the Irish name Cillian or, in some cases, to the German saint’s name Kilian.
The #2,833 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,278 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Killian is usually treated as an Anglicized form of the Irish name Cillian, probably from a Gaelic personal name whose exact early meaning is not fully secure. In Irish surname material, forms such as Cilleán, Cillin, Killian, and Killion appear as related spellings or Anglicizations. In some German-language contexts, however, Killian can also reflect the personal name Kilian, associated with Saint Kilian.
History
The name appears in Irish surname collections as one of several spellings connected with Cillian/Cilleán-type forms, and it has been recorded in Ireland for centuries. In wider European use, Kilian became familiar through the cult of Saint Kilian, a 7th-century missionary to the Franks, which helped spread the name as a given name and later a surname. In modern English-speaking countries, Killian is also used as a forename, which may reinforce the surname’s visibility.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname can overlap with a very popular modern given name: in Ireland and the wider Anglophone world, Killian is often seen both as a family name and as a first name.
From the historical record
“of a certain military rank, it may be a corruption of Bos chevalier, because lower in dignity than the milites bannereti. Killian adopts the opinion that as the soldier who has once been engaged in battle, is called battalarius, so he who has once been engaged in literary warfare, in public dispute upon any…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names