Karr (surname)

Karr is a Gaelic surname derived from the Old Norse Kjarr.[1] The surname Carr and its variants date back to the Battle Abbey Roll from 1066 after the Anglo Norman invasion of William the Conqueror.[2] The surname appears in the Old Norse genealogical section of the Flateyjarbók the largest medieval Icelandic manuscript.[3] In Skáldskaparmál, Snorri Sturluson lists Kjarr as a descendant of Auði, the founder of the Ödling dynasty. In the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson, Valland is mentioned several times as the Old Norse name for Gaul. It was the country where Rollo carved out Normandy: Kjárr, usually a king of the Valir. Kíarr/Kjárr is generally recognized to stem from Latin Caesar. Early Scandinavian links with Gothic regions suggest it also could have come from Greek kaîsar, perhaps through Gothic Kaiser.[4] The Scottish variant being Kerr and the Irish variant being Carr from the Celtic word ciar which was derived from O'Ciarain or O'Ceirin.[5] The word car itself is an anglicized variation from the Gaulish word carros; a wheeled cart or chariot.