Carne Family History

Cornish (Devon and Cornwall): topographic name from Cornish carn ‘cairn rock pile tor’ or a habitational name from any of several places in Cornwall named Carn(e) from this word. Catalan: variant of Carner.

French: metonymic occupational name from Old Picard carne ‘hinge’ (Old French charnel). French (Carné): nickname for a thin man or alternatively for a fat one.

The surname derives from the past participle of Norman Picard and Occitan carner (Old French charner) from c(h)ar ‘flesh meat’ (from Latin caro genitive carnis).

This term was used in a variety of senses as for example ‘to strip flesh from the bone’ or ‘to feed animals with meat’ and it is from this that the ambiguity of the nickname arises.