Cary
A surname with English place-name roots, most often linked to a manor near Launceston in Cornwall.
The #3,138 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,833 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cary is generally treated as a locational surname, taken from the manor of Cary (also spelled Kari/Zari in older sources) near St. Giles-on-the-Heath, close to Launceston. The name was later used by people who came from or held land there. Some 19th-century writers also suggested a Celtic sense like “dear” or “beloved,” but that is less secure than the place-name explanation.
History
The surname is recorded in English gentry and parish material, and one branch was long associated with the Cary/Carew area of the West Country. Historical surname books often cross-reference Cary with Carey, and the two forms have sometimes been treated as closely related or interchangeable in older records. In modern use, Cary survives as a relatively uncommon surname in the United States and elsewhere in the English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older reference works sometimes tried to connect Cary with a Celtic word meaning “dear,” but they still usually preferred the local manor as the true source.
From the historical record
“GARWOOD. A parish in Salop. CARY. See Carey. " The ancient fa- mily of Gary derives its surname from the manor of Cary or Kari, as it is called in Doomsday Book, lying in the parish of St. Giles-on-tlie Heath, near Launceston." B.L.G. See Carew. CARYLL. CARELL. Carle was an under-tenant in Sussex before Domesday…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom