Terry Family History

English and Irish: from the common Norman personal name, T(h)erry (Old French Thierri), composed of the unattested Germanic element þeudo- ‘people’, ‘race’ + ric ‘power’. Theodoric was the name of the Ostrogothic leader (c. 454–526) who invaded Italy in 488 and established his capital at Ravenna in 493. His name was often taken as a derivative of Greek Theodoros (see Theodore). There was an Anglo-Norman family of this name in County Cork. Irish: Anglicized (‘translated’) form of Gaelic Mac Toirdhealbhaigh (see Turley). Southern French: occupational name for a potter, from Occitan terrin ‘earthenware vase’ (a diminutive of terre ‘earth’, Latin terra).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press