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Local: Of Keith, an estate in the parish of Humble, county Haddington. Also several parishes and places in Scotland bear this name.
The family are descended from Robert, chieftain of the Catti, who having joined Malcolm II, at the battle of Panbridge, in 1006, was instrumental in gaining a great victory over the Danes, and slew with his own hand Camus, the Danish leader, which King Malcolm perceiving he dipped his three fingers in Camus's blood and drew three strokes or pales on the top of Robert's shield, and these have ever since been the arms of his descendants. In the year 1010, he was advanced by King Malcolm to the hereditary dignity of Marshal of Scotland, and rewarded with a Barony in Lothian called Keith Marshal, and also with the island of Inskeith in gulf of Edinburgh.
Local: From the parish and lands of Keith, in Banffshire, Scotland. The name Keith is said to be derived from the Gaelic 'Gaoth,' wind, pronounced somewhat similarly to Keith. The old village and kirk are called 'Arkeith,' which may be a corruption of the Gaelic 'Ard Gaoth,' signifying "high wind," which corresponds to its locality, which is peculiarly exposed to gusts of wind. In some old charters, 'Keit is written 'Gith,' which still more resembles 'Gaith.' I think the name is derived from the Welsh 'Caeth,' a place surrounded, shut up, inclosed, a deep hollow, a strait. The root of the word is the Welsh 'Cau,' to close, to shut up. Concerning this family, the traditional account is, that they came from Germany in the reign of the Emperor Otho, and from the principality of Hesse, from which they were expelled in some revolution. The first person of this family of whom our oldest historians take notice, is Robert De Keith, to whom Malcom II, King of Scotland, gave the barony of Keith, in East Lothian, as a reward for killing Camus, a Danish general, who then invaded Scotland with a numerous army. The battle was fought at Barry, seven miles from Dundee, where an obelisk, called "Camus' stone," still preserves the memory of the victory, and it is said the king, dipping his three fingers in the blood of the general, stroked them along the field of the Scotch champion's shield, to whom, besides the landed estate before mentioned, he gave the dignity of Great Marshal of Scotland.
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