Gender: Masculine
Origin: Swedish; Norwegian
Meaning: “kettle; cauldron.”
Swe (SHELL)
The name is derived from the Old Norse Ketill, refering to a cauldron but it could also be interpreted to mean “helmut”.
Other forms of the name include:
- Keld (Danish)
- Kell (Danish)
- Ketel/Ketil (Danish)
- Kield/Kjeld (Danish)
- Kjetil (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
- Ketill (Icelandic/Old Norse)
- Kittel/Kittil (Norwegian)
- Kjetel (Norwegian)
- Kettil (Swedish)
- Käl (Swedish)
Obscure feminine forms include:
- Katla (Faroese/Icelandic/Old Norse)
- Kiälla (Swedish: very old and obscure)
- Kjella (Swedish: SHEL-lah: obscure)
- Kjellina/Kjelline (Swedish: obscure)
The designated name day in Sweden is July 8.
Sources
In Sigrid Undset’s series The Master of Hestviken there is a character called Ketillög. It sounds related, maybe a pet form. I’m not even sure how to pronounce it but it has always intrigued me. Are you familiar with it? The series is about medieval Norway but the character is listed as being Danish on this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_The_Master_of_Hestviken