Frequency: (36541)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Scottish: 1. nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Older Scots reid ‘red’. 2. topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing, from Old English rȳd ‘woodland clearing’. Compare English Read.
FOREBEARS: Samuel Chester Reid (1783-1861), the sea captain who designed the stars and stripes form of the present the American flag, was born at Norwich, CT. His father, Lt. John Reid, a former British naval officer of a distinguished Glasgow family, had resigned his commission and joined the cause of the American Revolution.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
