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Carter (name)

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Carter (name)
Pronunciation/ˈkɑːrtər/
GenderUnisex
Origin
Language(s)Latin, Celtic
Meaning"transport goods by cart"
Region of originIreland, Scotland, England
Other names
Variant form(s)McCarter MacArthur McArthur McCarthy McCord McCourt Carty Cartier
Frequency Comparisons:[1]

Carter is a family name, and also may be a given name. Carter is of Irish, Scottish and English origin and is an occupational name given to one who transports goods by cart or wagon and ultimately of Celtic derivation from the word "cairt" meaning cart, which is still used in Gaelic. This Celtic term has roots in the Proto-Indo-European word "kars" or "kart", which referred to a wheeled vehicle. It may also appear as an English reduced form of the Irish and Scottish Gaelic derived McCarter or the Scottish-Gaelic Mac Artair with Mc meaning "son of." Its appearance and pronunciation as Carter may also be the Anglicized form of the Irish Mac Artúir, Cuirtéir, Cartúir, Cartúr, or Ó Cuirtéir.[2][3] The name is also related to the Latin carettarius meaning "cart driver" which was influenced by Celtic terminology and evolved into Norman French as "caretier." In Gaelic, the word "cairt" retained the meaning of "cart," and is used in a context that was familiar to and influenced by its earlier Celtic roots.

In England, the earliest recorded use of the surname Carter dates back to 1192–1193, as evidenced by the entry of Norman knight Rannulf le Caretier in the Pipe Rolls of Huntingdonshire.[4] This record appears during the reign of King Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart who ruled from 1189 to 1199. Close to a century later, on the Hundred Rolls of 1273, a census of Wales and England, includes six early bearers of the surname: Jocius Catetarius in Oxfordshire, Juliana le Cartere in Cambridgeshire, Nicholas le Carter in Oxfordshire, John le Cartere in Norfolk, Robert le Caretter in Huntingdonshire, and Margaret le Careter in Huntingdonshire. The Poll Tax of Yorkshire from 1379 lists Richardus Carter as another bearer of the surname in an Anglicized form.

Following the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1100s, Roman Catholic English derived Carter's also arrived in Ireland and settled into walled towns established by the Normans. These Anglo-Normans assimilated into Irish culture, adopting Irish Gaelic customs, language, and religion, becoming what is referred to in Irish historiography as "more Irish than the Irish themselves." The later English and Scottish Protestant planter settlers in Ireland who arrived between the 1550s and 1700 and mainly settled in Ulster during the plantation of Ulster, established the Ulster Protestant community and remained a distinct class and group.[5]

The Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366, which aimed to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland, established that every Englishman or Irish living amongst the English use the English language and adopt English naming and customs or be thrown in jail and lose property. It was declared for those Irish living in The Pale, to take an English surname either after a town, colour, trade, or office which also contributed to the proliferation of Anglo and Anglicized surnames.

Today, Carter is the 44th most common surname in the United States and 56th most common in England. In Ireland it is ranked between McGarry and Cannon where it is found with greatest frequency in County Laois as the 70th most common surname and also has significant presence in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick. In Scotland it is found with greatest frequency in the Outer Hebrides.[6]

The Carter surname was forced upon African Americans as formerly enslaved people lost their family names long before the Emancipation and 13th Amendment to their masters (who were typically of English or Scottish descent), or through the common mixing found between Irish immigrants and free African Americans in Northern cities and communities such as Five Points and Seneca Village in New York City and elsewhere in the United States.[7] This name is common among African Americans capable of tracing their roots back to the southern United States or Caribbean from the early 20th century and prior, with some 35% of name holders of Carter in the United States being of African-American descent and it being the 22nd most common surname for Black Americans.

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  • Ian Carter (born 1967), British-born Canadian soccer player

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  • Yannick Carter (born 1984), Canadian football linebacker
  • Yvonne Carter (1959–2009), British doctor and Dean of Warwick Medical School

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Carter Surname Meaning and Distribution". forebears.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2014
  2. ^ "Mac Artúir - Irish Names and Surnames".
  3. ^ "MFnames.com – Origin and Meaning of Carter". Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
  4. ^ "Sir Knight NN le Caretier". 6 May 2024.
  5. ^ "The Evolution of Irish Surnames - and where your Surname fits in". 26 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Carter Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History".
  7. ^ "The Irish and African-American Connection". 12 April 2017.
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