Kerr

See also: kerr, kërr, and kę́rr

English

Etymology

• As an English and Scottish topographic surname for someone who lived by a patch of wet ground overgrown with brushwood, from Middle English kerr (“brushwood”), possibly related to Irish Gaelic ceàrr (“left-handed”) and/or Old Norse kjarr.
• As an Irish surname, variant of Carr.
• As a German surname, Americanized from Kehr.
• As a Scottish Gaelic surname, from mac gille chéir (“son of the dusky laid”), from ciar (“black”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɜː/, /kɛə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɛɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ), -ɜː(ɹ)

Proper noun

Kerr (countable and uncountable, plural Kerrs)

1. A surname.
2. A township in Champaign County, Illinois, United States.
3. A census-designated place in Lake County, Montana, United States.
4. An unincorporated community in Gallia County, Ohio, United States.

Derived terms

• Kerr black hole
• Kerr cell
• Kerr County
• Kerr effect
• Kerr geometry
• Kerr metric
• Kerr-Newman black hole
• Kerr vacuum
• Kerrville
• magneto-optic Kerr effect

 

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Kerr is the 771^st most common surname in the United States, belonging to 44,711 individuals. Kerr is most common among White (86.86%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Kerr”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 295.