Carrion
A surname with more than one possible origin, including a place-name and a nickname from the word for dead flesh.
The #3,464 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,929 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is best treated as ambiguous. In Spanish contexts, it may be locational, referring to someone from the town of Carrión (especially Carrión de los Condes in Palencia). In other cases, older French and English surname writers linked forms like Caron/Carrion to Old French caroigne, meaning 'carrion' or dead flesh, though that sort of nickname origin is speculative and may not fit every family line. The spelling also overlaps with unrelated Iberian place-name traditions, so the same surname can have different roots in different regions.
History
Carrion is well established in Spanish-speaking countries and also appears in English-language records, especially through migration from Iberia or from families whose name was later anglicized in spelling. Nineteenth-century surname writers sometimes treated it as a vivid nickname, but modern onomastics would be cautious and allow for several independent origins. The form is also found as a place-name surname, which is likely the safest explanation for many bearers.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
There is a famous Castilian town called Carrión de los Condes, which has helped make Carrión a notable Spanish surname.
From the historical record
“of the siege of Rhodes, says: 'AH the strete called the Jure by the walles was full of their blood and caren (carrion).' Our 'Jurys'^ are not, however, necessarily Jews, as it is but a local name from resi- dence in such quarters, and doubtless at one time or another during the period of surname establishment…”
— English Surnames: their sources and significations