Core
An old surname usually understood as coming from an ancient Celtic personal name, though in some cases it may also be tied to a place-name or Irish root words.
The #8,631 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 81,036 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Core is usually treated as a descendant of an old Celtic personal name, Core or Kori, rather than as a word meaning "core" in modern English. 19th-century writers also connected it with Irish and Gaelic place- and personal-name forms, including forms related to Cork and to the Gaelic root corcach, meaning a marsh or moor. Because several historically similar names may have been blended in spelling, the exact origin of any one family line can be hard to pin down.
History
Historical surname writers noted Core as an ancient Celtic name and also pointed to related forms in Irish, Manx, and Icelandic records. Some families with Core, Cork, Cory, or similar spellings may have different origins that converged in later spelling, especially after Anglicization. The name is uncommon in the United States today, but it survives in several related surname families and place-name forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century source even linked Core to an Irish thrall named Kori mentioned in the Landnámabók, the medieval Icelandic settlement book.
From the historical record
“Ralph de Qmyt, ca Comb., ibid. i6g6. BuM._Mabcll, d. John Core : SLjud^kcmRlLi. lu. 1747. HarriHl-Wi]l>ain ConliiKraul WBiyCor: St. Man AldcmaiT, p. 51.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances