An honest dual story: mostly a Scots Border name carried into Ulster, sometimes an anglicised Mac Giolla Chathair.
The Kerr certificate.
Digital €19.99 · Printed €39.99 · Framed €89.99. 20% off at checkout.
Mixed Origin · Root meaning ‘marsh dweller’
Kerr has two honest origins in Ireland and it is worth stating both. Most Ulster Kerrs descend from the Scottish Border riding families whose enforced migration in the seventeenth century also brought the Armstrongs and Johnstones, their name from Old Norse kjarr, ‘copse’ or ‘wet ground’. But Kerr was also used to anglicise several native Ulster names, among them Mac Giolla Chathair and Mac Ciaráin.
Two families, one spelling — which one is yours usually comes down to whether the name arrived from Scotland or was simply translated into English at home.
Irish form: Mac Giolla Chathair
