Recorded in the spellings of Kylburn, Kilbourn and Kilbourne, this is an English locational surname. It can derives from any of the three places called Kilburn or Kilbourn, in the counties of Middlesex, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire, although the first known recording is in Derbyshire. The name means "the kiln by the stream" from the Olde English pre 7th century "cylen-burna". as to whay type of kiln this was is not known, but probably one for limestone burning. Locational surnames were usually given either to the original lord of the manor and his descendants, or to former villagers who left their original homestead and moved elsewhere. It was in the medieval period, and it often remains so today, that the easiset way to identify a "stranger", was to call him or her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Perhaps not surprisingly this surname is well recorded in the London area, and examples taken from surviving church registers include Richard Kylborne, who in 1587 married Alice Sackfelde at St Michael's church, Cornhill, and in 1626, Isaac Kilbourne married Mary Farrefax at St James' church, Clerkenwell. The very first recording of the surname anywhere in the word is believed to be that of Ralph de Kylburn. This was in the "Hundred Rolls" of the city of Derby, in the year 1273 during the reign of King Edward 1st of England, 1272 - 1307.

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