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Surname Etymology and Meaning of BARROW

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

(origin: Local) A circular earthen mound, marking the place of interment of some noted person; also a place of defense. The name of a river in Ireland.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

1. habitational name from any of the numerous places named with Old English bearo, bearu ‘grove’ (dative bear(o)we, bearuwe), for example in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, and Somerset, or a topographic name with the same meaning.
2. topographic name for someone who lived by an ancient burial mound, Middle English berwe, barwe, or a habitational name from a place named with this word (Old English beorg, dative beorge), of which there is one near Leicester and another in Somerset.
3. habitational name from Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, which is named with an unattested Celtic word, barr, here meaning ‘promontory’, + Old Norse ey ‘island’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)