indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Type Surname (from occupation & from nickname)
Usage German
Meaning & History
Named after profession from Middle High German kien ‘pine chip, torch’ for someone who chips pine wood (wood from pine or spruce) and sells it (e.g. to smelters), a lumberjack or charcoal burner.It can also be a variant of Kühner.Only in rare cases from a nickname derived from the Swiss dialect verb chienen 'to whimper'.