Explore the Family Name Skerritt

The meaning of Skerritt

1. English: nickname from Middle English skirwhit(e) ‘skirret, water parsnip’ (Sium sisarum), apparently an altered form of Old French eschervis. The plant was cultivated for its tubers, which were used in sauces and medicine, so the surname may have been acquired by someone who grew or sold it, or who used it in cooking or medicinally. 2. English: variant of Sherrard or Sherwood. The names were probably much confused. 3. English: habitational name from Skirwith (Cumberland), from Old English scīr ‘district, shire’ + Old Norse vithr ‘wood’, with initial Sk- instead of Sh- due to Scandinavian influence. 4. English: variant of Skerrett 1. 5. Irish (Galway): name of one of the ‘Tribes of Galway’, a group of families that dominated the commercial and civic life of Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, from the mid-13th to the 19th centuries. The name was formerly Scared, an abbreviation of Huscared, apparently an altered form of Middle English hous-carl (Old English hūscarl, from Old Norse húskarl) ‘retainer’, or of the derived personal name Hūscarl that was used by some English families before and after the Norman Conquest.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.