Carroll
Ó Cearbhaill · descendant of Cearbhall
Carroll is Ó Cearbhaill in Irish, said oh KAR-a-will, and means descendant of Cearbhall.
Cearbhall is read as hacking or fierce in battle. One of the six families who could claim descent from a king of Tara, and the name is now commoner in America than at home.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Cearbhaill
- His daughter: Ní Chearbhaill
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Chearbhaill
- The family together: Uí Chearbhaill
Where it comes from
Éile, on the Offaly and Tipperary border
Also spelt
Carroll, O’Carroll, Carrell
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.