"Reed" is commonly believed to be a nickname-derived surname referring to a person's complexion or hair being ruddy or red.

[1] At least one example of the Reed surname, that originating in the County of Northumberland in northern England, is derived from a location, the valley of Redesdale and the River Rede that runs through it.

According to Sir Walter Scott: These Reeds of Troughend were a very ancient family, as may be conjectured from their deriving their surname from the river on which they had their mansion.

An epitaph on one of their tombs affirms that the family have held their lands of Troughend, which are situated on the Reed nearly opposite to Otterburn, for the incredible space of nine hundred years.

Percy stood alone unarmed against the Crosiers, and according to the ballad: They fell upon him all at once, They mangled him most cruellie; The slightest wound might cause his deith, And they have given him thirty-three: They hacket off his hands and feet, And left him lying on the lee.

Percy Reed's ghost is said to have haunted Redesdale for many years, and "at times he would come gallantly cantering across the moorland as he had done when blood ran warm in his veins.

...And yet, again, he would come as a fluttering, homeless soul, whimpering and formless, with a moaning cry for Justice—Justice—Judgment on him who had by black treachery hurried him unprepared to his end.