Recorded as Scarr, Scarre, Scare and Skarr, this is an English surname of Norse-Viking origins. It derives from the pre 7th century word 'skjarr' meaning a rocky outcrop or hill, a word that was introduced into England by the Vikings during their many centuries of occupation in the North and North West. The name can be either topgraphical and describe somebody who lived by a prominent rock, or it may be locational for a person who lived or had lived at one of the various places called Scar or Scarr such as Scarr Hill, near Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Locational surnames are by their nature usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to live somewhere else. The easiest way to identify such strangers, was to call them by the name of the place from whence they came. In this case early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving church registers of the city of London include John Scarr who was christened at St Mary Whitechapel, on April 4th 1596, and Robert Skarr who was christened at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on September 7th 1610.

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