Origin
Cahan : 1: Irish: shortened form of McCahan or O'Cahan (see O'Kane).2: Jewish: variant of Cohen.
Caley : 2: English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of the places called Cailly in Eure and Seine-Maritime France derived from a Gallo-Roman personal name Callius + the locative suffix -acum.3: English: variant of Callow or of Cayley the latter a habitational name from a minor place called Caley in the parish of Winwick Lancashire named with Old English cā ‘jackdaw’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’.1: Manx: shortened form of Gaelic Mac Caollaidhe ‘son of Caolladhe’. The personal name is from Gaelic caol ‘slender’.
Callaghan : Irish: shortened form of O'Callaghan (see Callahan).
Carry : 1: Irish (Meath and Offaly): shortened form of McCarry or O'Carry (see McCary). Alternatively either a shortened Anglicized form of Ó Carraigh a variant of Ó Corraigh (see Corry) or perhaps sometimes a variant of Carr.2: French: variant of Carre 2.
Cavan : 1: Irish (Down): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Caomháin ‘son of Caomhán (Kevin)’ a diminutive of the personal name Caomh (see O'Keefe). In some cases the name may perhaps be an alternative Anglicized form of Caomhánach (see Kavanagh).2: Filipino: variant of Caban.3: Vietnamese: apparently from a combination of two personal names (the middle name Cả meaning ‘the eldest’ and the personal name Văn meaning ‘literature’) recorded as a surname after immigration of its bearers to the US.
Cavill : 1: English (Yorkshire): habitational name from Cavil a place in the East Yorkshire named from Old English cā ‘jackdaw’ + feld ‘open country’.2: English (southwestern): variant of Cavell or Covill.
Cawood : English: habitational name from a place in Yorkshire called Cawood from Old English cā ‘jackdaw’ + wudu ‘wood’.
Coe : English: nickname from the jackdaw Middle English co Old English cā (see Kay).
Czachor : Polish: from a personal name like Czabor or Czasław based on the Old Slavic element ča ‘to await to expect to hope’.
Ebell : German: variant of Ebel. In the US it is found mainly in NM and CA.
Halland : Norwegian: habitational name from ca. 15 farmsteads so named from Old Norse hallr ‘sloping’ + land ‘land field’ or first element Old Norse harthr ‘hard tough’ + land.
Kay : 1: English: nickname from northern Middle English ka kae kay ‘jackdaw’ from Old Norse ká or Old English cā. See also Daw.2: English: nickname from Middle English cai kay kei ‘left-handed clumsy’.3: English: occasionally perhaps an occupational name from Middle English kai(e) kei(e) ‘key’ applied to a maker of keys (compare Kear) or alluding to the office of keeper or bearer of keys but clear evidence for this is wanting.4: English: topographic name for someone living or working on or near a quay Middle English kay(e) key(e) keay Old French kay cay.5: English: from a Middle English personal name which figures in Arthurian legend. It is found in Old Welsh as Cai Middle Welsh Kei and is ultimately from the Latin personal name Gaius.6: Scottish Irish and Manx: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic McKay.9: Shortened form of any of various names beginning with the letter K-.7: German Danish and Dutch: from the personal name Kay which is of uncertain origin most likely as a variant of Key a pet form of personal names like Gerard Gerhardt and Gerrit (see Gerrits). This surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine). Compare Kai.8: Dutch and North German: topographic name for someone living by a quayside from Dutch kaai ‘quay’ German Kai (which was borrowed from the Dutch).10: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 紀 (see Ji 1) and 祁 (see Qi 2).11: Chinese: possibly from Cantonese form of some Chinese names 奇 (meaning ‘special’) 琦 (meaning ‘outstanding’) or 基 (meaning ‘base’) which were monosyllabic personal names or part of disyllabic personal names of some early Chinese immigrants in the US.
Keyworth : English (Lincolnshire Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire): habitational name from Keyworth in Nottinghamshire. The placename derives from an uncertain initial element (perhaps Old English cā ‘jackdaw’) + Old English worth ‘enclosure’.
McAvinue : from Mac Aibhne ‘son of Aibhne’ a personal name of unknown etymology much used among the O'Cahans in the North of Ireland. The original stress was on the first syllable of Aibhne but has sometimes now moved to the syllable anglicized as -vin- or -ven- which was once merely a glide vowel unrecognized in the Irish spelling.
O'Cain : Irish: shortened form of O'Callaghan.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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