This surname is derived from a nickname. or offic. 'the child.' Perhaps the eldest son, the heir (v. Eyre and Ayre). Hence Childe Harold simply revives the 'Childe Waters,' 'Childe Rolands,' or 'Childe Thopas's,' of mediaeval days. It is somewhat hard to fix the sense of Child in nomenclature. It evidently means a page occasionally. In the Morte Arthure mention is made of a youth named 'Chastelayne, a chylde of the Kynges chambyre.'

William le Child, Close Rolls, 12 Edward I.

Godwin Child, Berkshire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

Brian le Child, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Walter le Child, Oxfordshire, ibid.

John le Child, Sussex, 20 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

Robertus Childe, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

The form Childs and the corrupted Chiles seem to represent the patronymic s, as in Jones, Williams. Simmonds, &c. Lower says, 'In Domesday the epithet Cild or Cilt is applied to several persons of distinction' (Patronymica Britannica).

From the Old English personal name Cild. The "exact sense of the name is uncertain. The singular is used as a title of honour in late Old English times and this is found also throughout the Middle Ages, as in Childe Roland" (Mawer, The Chief elements used in English place-names, p. 16). It was synonymous with enfant in France. Henricus Child was canon of Scone c. 1275 (Scon, p. 85), and James Chyld was canon of Monymusk, 1549 (View, p. 180). Robert Cheild, burgess of Dundee, 1564 (RPC., I, p. 276). William Child was dean of guild in Aberdeen, 1829 (Guildry, p. 203).

(English) Young Knight, Young Man [Middle English child(e, young knight, &c.; Old English cild, child, also a title] Roger le Childe.—Hundred Rolls Shee saies, I had rather have one kisse, Child Waters, of thy mouth, Than I wolde have Cheshire and Lanca­shire both, That lye by north and south.— 'Child Waters’: Percy’s Reliques.

Now was ther of that chirche a parissh clerk, The which that was y-clepéd Absolon. . . .

A myrie [merry] child he was, so God me save.—Chaucer, Cant. Tales, A 3312,13,25.

(English) An attendant, a young man or young knight, sometimes the youngest son; descendant of Cilda (child).

The son and heir in noble and royal families. The word was employed by Spenser, and in the old ballads, as the "Childe of Elle," "Child Waters," &c. See English Surn. i. 214. In Domesd. the epithet Cild or Cilt is applied to several persons of distinction. Le Child. H.R.

Child, Page and Varlet were names given to youths from seven to fourteen years of age, while receiving their education for knighthood.

(in H.R. Le Child). This name corresponds with the German family names Hild, Hilt, and the Danish female Christian name Hilda (appellation of one of the maidens of Odin). In Anglo-Saxon names (as in Brunechild, Hildegard, Hiltrut, Adilhilt, Reginhilt) child, hilde, &c., are from Anglo-Saxon cild, an infant. In German names (as Childeric, Childebert, Hildebrand, Hiltebolt) child, hild, means a warrior (bellator, præliator), from held, id. Hence doubtless the name Child. In some names child, hild, means war; hence hiltiman, a warrior, and the surnames Chillman, Killman, and perhaps sometimes Hillman. In some names child, hild, is from alt, noble: hence Hiltiwin, nobilis bellator; Hiltegunt, nobilis virago; although according to Wachter the latter, as a Francic name, may also translate virgo bellatrix, or vira belli.

The English form of Enfant. Roger, William, Walkelin Infans or l’Enfant, Norm., 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); William and John le Enfant, William and John Child, Engl., c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

From the Old Norse, Skjöldr; from the Danish, Skjold; in the Domesday Book, Cild, Cilt; from the Flemish, Child; from the German, Schild; from the Dutch, Schilt; a personal name.