The Carter surname was originally a Celtic word of ‘cairt’ meant "cart". It represented a transporter of goods. From the Latin is the word ‘carpentarius‘ and from the Old Norman French was the word ‘caretier‘, which became ‘cartier.‘ In the Old Norse for the Carter surname was originally ‘kartr’ and in the Old English the word was ‘craet.”

Two other spelling forms include McCartner, McCarter and Cartier.

Those with the Carter surname in the United States live mostly in Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Ohio. In England the Carter families are in Lancashire and Yorkshire counties and in the London area. Numerous counties in Scotland have the Carter surname, especially Lanarkshire, Midlothian and . The surname is very common in Australia and Canada.


Famous: Robert Carter (a Mayflower Pilgrim of 1620), Jimmy Carter (U. S. President), Howard Carter (discoverer of King Tut’s Tomb in Egypt), Nell Carter (actress and singer), Gary Carter (professional baseball player), June Carter (singer), Lynda Carter (actress), Rubin Carter (professional boxer) and Sonny Carter (United States ).