Kerr

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of Scottish origin, carried by many people and families, particularly in the Scottish Borders and Lowlands
2. A surname of Scottish and Northern English origin, borne by numerous individuals across Britain and beyond
3. A Scottish family name, found widely in the Borders and Lowlands and among people with ancestry from those regions

Etymology: Kerr is a surname rather than a dictionary word, and its best-supported origin is a landscape. In Middle English, "kerr" meant brushwood, and a man who lived beside a patch of wet ground grown over with scrub could be called by that name. Surnames of this kind were often given to people according to where they lived, so the name marks a place as much as a person. The name has several separate sources. In Ireland it is a variant of Carr, following the same landscape root, while in Scotland a Gaelic form reads as "son of the dusky lad," from the Gaelic word for black. A third line appears in Germany, where Kehr was Americanized into the spelling now seen in the United States. The same spelling therefore gathers together names from different languages and different stories. Some scholars also connect the Middle English word with Irish Gaelic "ceàrr," meaning left-handed, and with Old Norse "kjarr," meaning brushwood. These links are less certain, so the landscape meaning remains the most dependable explanation for the English and Scottish forms.