McCarter
McCarter is an Irish and Scottish surname meaning “son of Carter,” ultimately tied to an ancestor who hauled goods by cart.
The #3,605 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,348 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McCarter is a patronymic surname built on the Gaelic prefix Mc/Mac, meaning “son of,” plus the occupational name Carter. Carter comes from Middle English and Old French roots referring to a cart driver or transport worker, so the full surname originally meant “son of the carter.” In some families, especially in Ireland and Scotland, the name may also reflect the adoption or anglicization of an older Gaelic surname that was later reshaped to a familiar English form.
History
The surname is found in both Scottish and Irish contexts, where many Mc- names were fixed into hereditary surnames under Anglicized spelling. In North America it spread through immigration from Ulster and Scotland and later appears in several regional lines with no single common ancestor. Because Carter is an occupational base name, some McCarter families may have developed independently in more than one place.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
McCarter is one of several surnames that combine a Gaelic kinship prefix with an originally English occupational name, a sign of how surnames could blend languages over time.