Carruthers
A Scottish locational surname from Carruthers in Dumfriesshire, carried by a long-established Border family.
The #6,351 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 57,527 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Carruthers is a habitational surname from the hamlet of Carruthers in Middlebie, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The name itself is treated in the older surname books as a place-name rather than a personal-name derivative, and the family name simply means someone from that locality. The deeper meaning of the place-name is not clearly established in the excerpts, so it is safest to regard the surname as locational rather than to force a more exact root.
History
The family was already established in Scottish history by the time of King David II, and later writers note that the principal branch styled itself Carruthers of Howmain in Annandale. Bardsley also remarks that the name spread early into Cumberland, Westmorland, and North Yorkshire, where it appears in several variant spellings. It remains especially associated with the Scottish Borders and southwest Scotland.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books describe several surprising variant spellings of Carruthers, including forms that look quite different from the modern standard.
From the historical record
“2. A modification of Carolus, Charles. CARRUTHERS. A hamlet in the pa- rish of Middlebie, co. Dumfries. CARSE. A Scot, topographical expres- sion, probal.ily meaning a low alluvial tract near a river, as the Carse of Gowrie, of Forth, of Falkirk, &c. CARSON. Probably Charles's son. CAR STAIRS. A parish in Lanarkshire.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom