The surname Carter was originally an occupational name, for a person who drove or made carts. (‘Cart’ is a diminutive from the same root as the word ‘car’, which originally meant ‘conveyance’.) In early times carts were virtually the only form of overland transport of both goods and people; thus many original carters would have been as vital to everyday life as modern-day drivers of anything from lorries to taxis.

The origins of the word ‘carter’ are various depending on the basic form of the word for a cart in the derivation-Latin ‘carettum’, ‘carettarius’; Old French ‘charette’, ‘carette’, etc. A related word, ‘craet’, was in use in England well before the Norman Conquest and there was also an Old Norse equivalent, ‘kartr’. From these could well come English Carter. After the Norman Conquest, a French version was introduced-the Old French ‘charetier’, which originally meant ‘chariot-driver’. (The well-known French name Cartier derives from a similar source.) This last derivation is probably responsible for the variant surname Charter, though most of the original French forms have been absorbed without trace into plain Carter. Another widespread derivative of cart is Cartwright (see Wright), which means ‘a maker of carts’.

The earliest reference to the name Carter appears in the Latinised form. In the 1177 Pipe Rolls for Cambridgeshire one Fulco Carettarius is listed.

The French form of Carter, Cartier, could be confused with another series of French surnames, Cartier, Carteret, etc. ultimately from ‘quartier’ (‘a quarter’-a measure for land and goods). Also the name Charter could be confused with Charters, Charteris or Chatteris, derived from Chartres in France or Chatteris in Cambridgeshire.

Jewellers and gem merchants, Cartier, have, at one time or another, appraised the Topkapi collection, sold the Hope Diamond, the Romanov crown, a necklace given to Empress Marie-Louise by Napoleon, and the 69.4 carat pear-shaped Taylor—Burton diamond.

Tutankhamen’s fourteenth-century BC royal tomb was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter (1873— 1939). Probably the world’s pre-eminent archaeological find, its treasures attracted unprecedented crowds when exhibited in Britain and America.

Jacques Cartier (1491—1557) was a famous French explorer who discovered Canada’s St Lawrence River while looking for the fabled Northwest Passage to the Pacific. Believing he might have discovered it, he sailed down the river to the present site of Quebec, claiming the land for France as he went. As a result he might justifiably be identified as the source of Canada’s separatist problems.

The United Kingdom has towns called Carter’s Clay and Carterton. This latter name is also a town in New Zealand, while Australia has a Carter Mountain.

With about 104,000 namesakes, Carter is the 52nd most popular surname in England and Wales. (The name is not common enough throughout Scotland to be counted separately.) Carter is notably popular in and around Teesside where an estimated one in about 495 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Bristol, Bradford and Leicester are other Carter strongholds. Around the world Carters are most common in Auckland (one in 732 families), Sydney (one in 931), and Wellington (one in 949). The United States has more Carters than the entire population of Nottingham-an estimated total of just under 367,000 makes this their 43rd most popular surname.