Regarding Kiefer Sutherland: I read long ago that his mother named him 'Kiefer,' because the word/name means 'kangaroo' in one language or another (I don't recall which language), and so, that's what his mother called him when he was hopping around in the womb, and then the name just stuck. I think it's a great name, and the reason KS was supposedly given this name is sweet.
Kiefer is German for jaw (jaw bone) or pine tree. It may also be a variation of the German word Küfer for cooper (barrelmaker) as already noted in the meaning.
― Anonymous User 3/4/2010
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I personally wouldn't use Kiefer. It's not a bad name, but it means "jaw" in German, a language I happen to study, and it reminds me of the word "kafir" a lot.
― Anonymous User 2/17/2010
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Kiefer Sutherland's grandfather was the man who brought universal healthcare to Canada, Tommy Douglas, and thus this name has a more distinguished hint to it than other random surnames in Canada. It's a connection to the man voted as the greatest Canadian of all time.
― Anonymous User 1/29/2010
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"Kiefer" is the German word for "jaw".
― Anonymous User 1/15/2010
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Another ugly celebrity-inspired name. It sounds similar to "heifer", and it also sounds kind of trashy.
Up until now, I seriously didn't know this was a name. (I wasn't aware of Kiefer Sutherland, either.) I used it for one of my characters, unaware that there were actually people with this name. I figured out the name because I was using an online foreign word translator and it said that Kiefer was the German word for "pine". It worked because the character, an animal in an animal story, was a pine marten. I really like this name.