She was meant to be named "Kiera" the anglicised form of "Kira" after the Soviet figure skater Kira
Ivanova whom her father admired; however Macdonald misspelt the name when she registered her daughters
birth certificate, writing the e before the i. Her father is English and her mother is of Scottish and
Welsh descent. Knightley has an older brother Caleb. Macdonald worked as a playwright after her 
acting career came to an end. Knightleys parents encountered substantial financial difficulties following
the birth of her brother; her father a "middling" actor agreed to a second child only if her mother sold
a script first. However, her parents' varying degrees of success did not deter Knightleys curiosity about
the profession.