What is the origin of the name Kent?

Answer 1

Most probably from Kent - a county in South East England. Probably your (or whoever was called Kent) had an ancestor who came from Kent and was called, say, John of Kent. His son would have been, say, Peter of Kent and so on. Eventually the 'of' was dropped and subsequent descendants of the original Kent would have Kent as their surname e.g. Clark Kent.

Answer 2

Kent is Welsh.

Expanded answer:The name Kent comes from the Welsh word Ceint(pronounced "Kaynt"). During the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain it was annexed by a group called the Jutes around 470AD. After this it was called Cantland and the people living in it Cantware. Over the centuries that followed this got changed to Chenth before eventually settling on the spelling "Kent" by the 18th Century.

The Welsh called the area Ceint for unknown reasons. Interestingly the Celtic tribe who lived in this area were called the Cantiaci by the Romans so this tribe were clearly named after the place in which they dwelled indicating the name is truly ancient. The Welsh name for the county town of Kent is Caergeint which means "fortress of Kent". The English name for the same place, Canterbury, means something like "hill of the kentish men".