The surname Carr is of English origin. The name is derived from the Middle English ‘kerr’, Old Norse ‘kjarr’, meaning ‘dweller by the marsh’. Carr is used as a synonym of the Scottish name Kerr. Carr or Kerr meant a low lying meadow. The use of the name in this manner is still made in Northern England where one might found a placard announcing the sale of freehold land as ‘All that meadow or Carr, containg six acres’. The surname has been used as an anglicization of the Gaelic name Mac Giolla Chathair, ‘son of the devotee of St.Cathair’; a personal name derived from ‘cath’, battle. This family was famous in early medieval times when its chief was recorded in the Annals of Loch Ce as ‘steward of Cenel Aengusa and royal heir of Oilech’. It is also an anglicization of the Gaelic O’Carra, ‘descendant of Carra’, a byname meaning ‘spear’. The name dates back to the twelfth century were a Osbert de Kerr is recorded in historical archives. A modern form of the name first appears in the thirteenth century were a William Carre is recorded. The name was brought to America by English immigrants. One of the fir…
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