This interesting name has three possible origins, the first of which is from a medieval nickname for a lively, frisky person, or an occupational surname for a goatherd, derived from the Middle English "kid(e)", a young goat. The second possible origin is from the Middle English word "kidde" meaning a faggot of wood, and forms another occupational surname for a seller of kindling, faggots. The third source is Scottish, and is from the personal name "Kid", a variant of "kit", itself a diminutive or pet form of the name "Christopher". There are a number of variants of the modern surname Kidd, Kid(de), Kyd(de) and Kidman. One Roger Kidd was an early emigrant to the New World, arriving in "James Cittye" in Virginia in the "George" in 1623. William Kidd of Boston, Massachusetts, was given the command of a privateer to suppress piracy in 1696, but undertook piracy himself and was sent to England under arrest in 1700 and hanged in 1701. One John Kidd (1775 - 1851) was educated at Oxford in 1793, and became the first Aldrichian professor of Chemistery. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Kide, which was dated 1181, in the "Pipe Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.

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