Currie
A Scottish surname that often comes from the place-name Currie near Edinburgh, though some bearers may derive it from Gaelic roots associated with Murchadh and MacMhuirich.
The #2,100 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,915 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually explained as a locational surname from Currie, a parish near Edinburgh, or as a surname tied to the related Scottish place-name Corrie. In older surname books, Currie is also linked to Gaelic forms, especially the development of M'Mhuirich into Currie in some areas. Because of that mixed history, the surname can have more than one origin stream rather than a single source.
History
Currie has long been recorded as a Scottish surname, especially in Lowland and eastern Scottish contexts. Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century surname writers often treated it as a place-name surname, but Gaelic scholarship also notes a separate Scottish Gaelic line in some families. The modern spelling Currie coexists with related forms such as Curry and Currey.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One early surname source explicitly says Currie is the same as Corrie and also points to the parish near Edinburgh.
From the historical record
“ever, Currie and Corrie. CURRIE. 1. The same as Corrie. 2. A parish near Edinburgh. CURRYER. The occupation. CURS0:N'. See Curzon. CURTEPIE. H.R. Apparently an- glicised from the A-NoiTU. Curtespee, 'short- sword,' from the fashion of the original bearer's weapon. Ho that famous son of Fair Eosamond, William, Earl…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom