Carter (name)

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

Carter is an English surname and given name that means "one who uses a cart". It is derived from Anglo-Norman careter or caretier.[2][3]

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 Carters 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.

People with the surname

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I

  • 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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People with the given name

Fictional characters

Given name

Surname

See also

References

  1. ^ "Carter Surname Meaning and Distribution". forebears.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2014
  2. ^ "Carter - Etymology, Origin & Meaning". etymonline. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  3. ^ Campbell, Mike. "Meaning, origin and history of the surname Carter". Behind the Name. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  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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