Recorded in several forms including Charteris, Charters, Chatters, Chaters (Anglo-Scottish) Chatre, Chatres, Chartreux, Chatreau (French), this is a surname of French origins of which it has has two. The first is locational from the town of Chartres in Frances. Probably introduced into Britain after the invasion of 1066, the surname, derives from the Latin name for a Gaulish tribe who inhabited the area in the 5th century. This was the "Carnutes", and the early recording of the surname in Scotland, appear as "Carnoto"; Walter de Carnoto donating two churches to the abbey of Kelso in 1180. The form as Charteris appears in Scotland in the mid 13th Century, when one Adam Charteris was granted the wardship of Amysfield. The second possible origin of the modern surname is pre 7th century Olde English or Anglo-Saxon, and locational from the village of Chatteris in Cambridgeshire. This is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as "Cetriz", and meaning "Ceatta's ridge". An early example of the surname in a surviving register of the diocese of Greater London is that of Christopher Charteris, who was christened at St. Lawrence Jewry, on February 2nd 1644. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alcher de Chartris. This was dated 1179, in the "Pipe Rolls" of the county of Sussex, during the reign of King Henry 11nd of England, 1154 - 1189. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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