KIM MILLER

Originally a short form of Kimberley, now established as an independent given name. The hero of Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim (1901) bore the name as a short form of Kimball (a surname used as a given name). In recent years, as a girl's name it has been borne by a number of well-known people, including the film stars Kim Novak (b. 1933) and Kim Basinger (b. 1953).

English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term, an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’, reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner). In southern, western, and central England Millward (literally, ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. The American surname has absorbed many cognate surnames from other European languages, for example French Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins, and Moulin; German Mueller; Dutch Molenaar; Italian Molinaro; Spanish Molinero; Hungarian Molnár; Slavic Mlinar, etc.