To those of you who asked for documentation of my recent posting:
1) From "A Dictionary of English Surnames," by P. H. Reaney, Third Ed. with
corrections and additions by R. M. Wilson, Oxford Univ. Press., 1995, reprint
1996, p. 84:
"Carlisle, Carlile, Carlill, Carlyle: Odard de Carlyle 1158-64 Black;
Thomas de Karlisle 1310-11 LLBD; Adam Carlelle, Carlille 1363, 1370
ib. G. From Carlisle (Cumb)." (Note: Cumb. = Cumbria, the northwesternmost
county in England, on the Scottish border, where the city of Carlisle is
located, alternate name Cumberland).
2) From "Encyclopedia of American Family Names," (the 5000 most popular
ones), by H. Amanda Robb, Andrew Chesler, and New England Publishing
Associates, Inc., Harper Collins 1995, p. 95:
"CARLISLE, CARLISI (S. S. Abbreviation: Carlis). Ranking 1484 (out of
5000 most popular surnames).
Origin: Carlisle--English; Carlisi--Italian. Carlisle: derived from the
British word "ker," meaning fort. The name was given to those who came from
Carlisle, a place in Cumbria, "England. Carlisi: cognate to Charles."
(Note: Carlisle Castle has been a fort since the earliest times, mostly
held by the English but sometimes by the Scots. The western end of Hadrian's
Wall (122-126 A. D.) is at Carlisle. There were fortlets about every mile
along its 73-mile length from Carlisle to Newcastle. Much of the wall still
stands, more or less. We saw it at several points last month).
3) From Encyclopedia Britannica, 1944 Edition, Vol. 4, p. 876 :
"CARLISLE, a city, municipal and parliamentary borough, and the county
town of Cumberland, England----------"
"Carlisle (Caer Luel, Karliol) is first mentioned in 685, when under the
name of Luel it was bestowed by Ecgrith on St. Cuthbert to form part of his
see of Lindisfarne. It was then a thriving and populous city, and when St.
Cuthbert visited it in 686 he was shown with pride the the ancient walls and
a Roman fountain.------"
4) From "The Historical Families of Dumfriesshire and The Border Wars," by
C. L. Johnstone, second edition, reprint, Clearfield Company, Baltimore,
1996, page 209 (first page of Index):
On this index page there are about 60 page references to Carliles and
Carlyles (no Carlisles). Dumfriesshire is the southwesternmost Scottish
county and lies opposite to Cumbria (Cumberland) County in England where the
city of Carlisle is located. I previously posted the description of this
book.
5) I have seen numerous other books and surname dictionaries which state
that the surname Carlisle, Carlile, Carlyle is descended from persons who
originally lived in Carlisle, England. These books are in our Clayton
Genealogical library (in Houston) and I did not make notes from them.
Quotations 1-5, above, are from books which I own or which are immediately
accessible at my local branch library.
Ode Carlisle