Karr
A surname usually treated as a spelling of Carr, originally from a place or feature name for low-lying, marshy ground.
The #3,460 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,906 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most historical surname dictionaries treat Karr as a spelling variant of Carr. The underlying word is usually explained as a northern term for a low-lying meadow, marsh, or boggy patch of ground, especially in place-names. In surname use, it likely arose to identify someone who lived by such a feature or came from a locality called Carr.
History
The name appears in medieval northern English records in forms such as atte Karr and del Karr, which fits a topographic origin. Later spellings were often unstable, so Karr, Carr, and Kerr could overlap in historical documents. The surname is now uncommon as Karr, but the broader Carr surname has remained widespread in the English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley specifically notes that carr was still used in the northern counties for this kind of wet or low meadow, which helps explain why the surname shows up so often in medieval Yorkshire and Lancashire records.
From the historical record
“KARBY. A corruption of Kirby. KARR. The same as Carr. KAVAFAGH. The fomily claim des- cent from ancestors who Avere of old mon- archs of all Ireland, and who at the inva- sion of Heniy II. were kings of Leinster. They bore the suraame of Mac-Murroiigh ; but in 1171 Douell, son of Dermot Mac- Murrough, acquired that…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom