Carey

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of English or Irish origin, also used as a first name for both men and women
2. A surname of English and Irish origin that is also occasionally given as a personal first name
3. An Anglo-Irish family name that has also been adopted as a given name for people of either sex

Etymology: Carey is less a single word than a surname that arrived from several directions, and its origins depend on which family carried it. In Wales, it is a variant of Carew, a name tied to place names rooted in an old Brythonic word meaning "to love," so the surname encodes a sense of affection in its landscape roots. In England, similar place-name origins give the surname the same ancient base. In Ireland, the name has a different story. One line comes from "mac Fhiachra," meaning "descendant of Fiachra," and the personal name Fiachra is connected to "préachán," the Irish word for crow. Another Irish line connects the name to the root of Kerry, the county in the southwest. In Germany, the surname Gehrig or Gehring was Americanized into Carey as families emigrated, so a single spelling can hide a German, Welsh, English, or Irish ancestry.