The Kettwig Families

The origin of the Kettwig surname is not certain. It can probably be connected to the names of two towns. The former town of Kettwig, now part of Essen in Germany, could be the town of origin of the Kettwig families. However, there is another town in the Netherlands with the name of Katwijk. Whether one these towns can be connected to the Kettwig surname remains to be proved.

In many families two spelling variants can be found: Kettwig and Kettwich. They are most certainly one and the same name, since in Germany the final "g" is in some areas pronounced like "ch". This explains the different ways of spelling.

Maybe both place names have the people of the Katten in common and mean nothing else than a place where the ''Katten'' settled?

Essen-Kettwig (D)

The oldest version of the name is Katuuik. An interpretation sees "kat" as a river bend, "wick" as a settlement or village. In other words "a settlement at a bend of the river Ruhr".
The name was first mentioned in a document in 1052. The settlement, however, had existed prior to this date because the ford in the river Ruhr made a crossing possible for travellers on the "Bergische Hellweg", a historical route. Below you find the different spellings of the town of Kettwig in history. In brackets you find the year this spelling was documented.

Katwijk aan Zee (NL)

According to a document of the year 1697, the "Katten" were a people which travelled down the river Rhine, starting in their place of origin (propably Hesse) and settling at the mouth of the river. Therefore "kat" stands for the people of the "Katten" and "wijk" (short for "wijkplaats") for "place of refuge". The name Katwijk would then mean "place of refuge of the Katten".