In hopedance mag, I encountered an article by Sally Carless. I thought she might be like Susan Lee Solar, who changed her surname to make a point. But it is a real last name. In fact, there is even a Petrochem Carless Ltd :

Petrochem Carless is the leading European refiner and supplier of high performance speciality hydrocarbons, advanced automotive fluids and speciality chemicals.

Here's one Carless geneology forum. If you have any information on the history of this name, please fill me in. (I'm too afraid to register on the site and ask the forum for fear of what they'll do with my email address).

Anyone for starting a new line in the Carless family tree? Colin Carless... hmm.

Aha- googling "carless family name origin" led to:

The origin of the name Carelesse

derivative of Carless

English (chiefly West Midlands): nickname for a carefree person, from Old English carleas (a compound of caru + leas grief, care + free from, without).

Variants: Careles, Careless; Corless (Lancashire); Curless.

Cited from:

Hanks and Hodges 1988, A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press

Added by colin #442 on 2004-05-21. Last modified 2004-05-21 05:00. F0 License: Attribution
Location: World
Topics: surnames