As to the original meaning of the name Keup


a society for family search in Leipzig has been useful. Only three of the registers of names evaluated contained the name KEUP. Their common tenor was: The name KEUP is deriving from the Low German word 'kupe' (= large open barrel) changing to Kupe and to Keupp(e) or Keup(s).
The name 'kupe' is not directly deriving from an occupation, but, what is rare,
indirectly from the object of the work.

It does not necessarily mean that the first person using this name was a cooper, he can also have lived, when there were not yet any house numbers, in or at a house near a barrel, or maybe he had a large and stout figure like a barrel.

The Low German was spoken during the Middle Low German time from
Flanders up to Pomerania and behind, the written form not appearing before
the 13th century. Entries in church registers and documents originated (until
Napoleon) from the clergy. They were told the dialect names by the rural people.
So you can still today read in documents: Keipke, Keip or Koep. (The above
stated name 'Koepsche' means the wife/widow of Koep.) The farmers clearly
signed with the name KEUP since they were able to read and write.

(Still today you can see even crazier variations of the name in everyday life.
So e.g. my hairdresser puts my name down - in the most beautiful Saxon dialect - as
Mr. 'Goib', and I let her do so.)