This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the carr' or 'kerr,' which see. The latter is the common form of entry in the Yorkshire Poll Tax, &c. The frequency with which such entries as Robert or William del Carr, or atte Carr, or Karr, or Kerr recur in Lancashire and Yorkshire records of the 13th and 14th centuries is explained by the fact that Carr or Kerr meant a low-lying meadow. It is still so used in all the northern counties. I saw in the Clifton Arms Hotel, Blackpool, Dec. 6, 1887, a placard announcing the sale of a freehold farm near Bispham. 'All that Meadow, or Carr, containing six acres' occurred twice, and one plot of ground was called Fayles Meadow, or Deborah's Carr. In the Yorkshire Poll Tax (1379) almost every village has some one styled William or John del Kerr in it; v. Carus.

Thomas Carr, Agnes uxor ejus, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Willelmus att Karr, 1379: ibid.

Johannes del Karr, 1379: ibid.

1610. Buried — Mabell, d. John Carr: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1742. Married — James Carr and Ann Holt: St. George's Chapel, Mayfair.

A variant of Ker, which see. In the list of Border chiefs who took 'assurance' of Protector Somerset at Kelso, 1547, the names of all the Border Kers are spelled Car (Patten, Expidicion into Scoilande, 1548, in Russell, Haigs of Bemersyde, p. 465). John Carre of Cavers appears in 1766, and Alexander Allan Canpublished a History of Coldingham Priory, 1836. Cuthbert Carre, a Scot, rector of the parish church of Mychyng in Sussex, received litters of denisation in England, 1480 (Bain, IV, 1465). A group of families of this name appear in Central Scotland from fifteenth to seventeenth century. Robertus Car, witness in Scon, 1491 (Scon, p. 199), James Carr in Carkarie, 1582, and ten more recorded in Brechin and neighborhood between 1576 and 1800 (Brechin). Gilbert Care in Laichbert (Larbert), 1608, and four more in the record between 1607 and 1800 (Stirling).

(Anglo-Scot.-Scand.) Dweller at a Marsh or Moss [Middle English and Scot. car, carr(e, ker, Old Norse kiarr (whence Swedish kärr, a marsh] John del Carre, A.D. 1401.—Lanc. Fines. (Celtic) 1 Dweller at a Fort [Gaelic (and Irish) cathair (th = h) = Welsh caer, a fort] 2 Dweller at a Rock [Gaelic (and Irish) carr, a rock; whence Old Northern English carr, the same] (Teutonic) the Old Teutonic pers. name Car, (rare) [peril. Gothic and Old Saxon kara-O.H.Ger. chara-Old English caru, care, anxiety; but kar was an O.Scand. by-form of karl]

The English name Carr has been used as the anglicized form of several different Irish surnames. See Cahir, Carry, MacElhar, Kerrane, Mulcair. Also for the Scottish Kerr. MIF 52, 53

The English name Carr has been used as the anglicized form of several different Irish surnames. See Cahir, Carry, MacElhar, Kerrane, Mulcair. Also for the Scottish Kerr. MIF 52, 53

“Rock” in Anglo-Saxon. See also Kerr.

“Low-Lying Meadow” in Old English.

(English, Italian, Scottish) Dweller at, or near, a rock or marsh, or an enclosed place; grandson of Carra (spear).

Collins (Peerage, edit. 1768, v. 83.) remarks that "the Cars or Kers are undoubtedly a very ancient people in this island, but it is uncertain whether they be of French or English extraction. Those who contend for the former, allege that the baron Ker and other families of his name now existing in France, trace their origin higher than the time of William, duke of Normandy, who, being attended by a considerable commander of their name in 1066, rewarded him for his bravery and conduct with divers possessions in the north of England. . . . The Cars of England and France have the same armorial bearings, viz., Gules, on a cheveron Argent, 3 mullets of the First. Others are of opinion that the surname is local, and was at first assumed by the owners of the lands and baronies of Car and Carshall in Lancashire." The Scottish Kers bear their arms of different tinctures from those of England and France; and Collins adds, that some are of opinion that they are "Aborigines, and endeavour to support their conjecture by affirming the surname to be Gaelic or Celtic." They were numerous and flourishing temp. Alexander III. A.D. 1249. I think it highly probable that this monosyllabic name may be traced to several local sources. A car in various dialects signifies "a wood or grove on a moist soil, generally of alders. Any hollow place or marsh is also called a car." In Anglo-Saxon, on the contrary, it means a lock. Again in Lincolnshire it signifies a gutter. Halliwell. Once more, the Celtic caer means a fortification, and ' carr' is applied in various districts to a place where some castle or earthwork has existed.

Vide, Kerr.

This name has several significations; Caer, Cornish—British, a city, town, a fort, a castle; Carre, French, a stout, broad—shouldered man; Cawr, Welsh, a giant.

(E. and S.), Rock, Hollow place or Marsh, Wood or Grove. Car or ker, stout. Caer (Celtic), city, castle, place surrounded by a wall.

From the Old Norse, Karr; A. Karr; from the German, Karo; from the French, Karré; from the Dutch, Kar; personal name Cari, a Saxon tenant in the Domesday Book.