This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Carey,' a great West-country surname. Mr. Lower, quoting Sir Bernard Burke's Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, says, 'Cary: the ancient family of Cary derives its surname from the manor of Cary, or Kari, as it is called in Domesday Book, lying in the parish of St. Giles-on-the-Heath, near Launceston.'

John de Cary, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Roger de Cary, Somerset, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

1545. Henry Carey and Ann Morgan: Marriage Lic (Faculty Office).

1592. Buried —John Cary: St. James, Clerkenwell.

In Irish Families (p. 73) the Gaelic surname Mac Fhiachra is described as nearly extinct. This is true so far as its earlier and phonetic anglicizations-Keaghry, Keighry and Keahery —— are concerned, very few families so called being now extant, though they are not unknown in east Galway and the neighbourhood of Athlone. It would appear, however, that the Co. Galway sept of Mac Fhiachra does survive in considerable numbers, but under the alias of Carey. At the same time it must be remembered that Carey has been adopted as the anglicized form of several other Irish surnames,† and the majority of the numerous families so called belong to a sept of the southern Uí Néill, originally located in south Ulster and north Leinster, not to that of Mac Fhiachra. This probably applies to some extant also to the Mac Fhiachra sept of the Cinel Fearadaigh (of the northern Uí Néil) who were still called MacKeaghery, and lso MacGeaghery, in the seventeenth century, as the hearth money rolls attest. An Armagh inquisition taken in 1444 before Primate Mey found one Nemeas MacKeaghery, a nativus, to be the rightful heir to the lands commonly called the lands of MacKeaghery.

†To those given on pp. 73, 74 (op. cit.) the Norman name Carew may be added, which in fact is often pronounced Carey by the people bearing it.

(Celtic) 1 belonging to Carew or Carey = the Forts [Welsh caerau, pl. of caer, a fort, castle] 2 Carey also = Keary, q.v.

See the discussion on these names in Notes and Queries, 2nd August, 1902, pp. 92-3.

This is used as the anglicized form of six Gaelic Irish surnames, Ó Ciardha etc. (see Crean, Currane, Keary, Kerin, Kerrane, MacKeaghry); also as a synonym of the Norman Carew. IF 73

This is used as the anglicized form of six Gaelic Irish surnames, Ó Ciardha etc. (see Crean, Currane, Keary, Kerin, Kerrane, MacKeaghry); also as a synonym of the Norman Carew. IF 73

(Irish) Grandson of the dark-complexioned man.

The Carews of the West of England pronounce their name as if written Carey, and hence the surnames have been accounted identical. See Anecdote in English Surn. ii. 39. See, however, Cary.

Local. From the manor of Cary or Kari, as spelled in the Doomsday Book, in the parish of St. Giles, near Launceston, England. Cary, in the British, signifies beloved, dear. This name may be the same as Carew.