Skeries

A rare surname of Old Norse origin. From sker — a small rocky island, cut off from the shore.1

The name traces to the Old Norse word sker2, meaning a small rocky outcrop rising from the sea, too small to inhabit.

Skerries and islets on Hovdanvika, Flakstad, Nordland, Norway
Skerries and islets on Hovdanvika, Flakstad, Nordland, Norway (2022).3

The plural form, skerries, is still used in English and Scandinavian languages to describe the jagged coastal rock formations common to Norway, Iceland, Scotland, and Ireland.

As a family name, Skeries is among the rarest in the world — carried by fewer than one in fifty million people4, with concentrations in northern Germany and North America.

  1. Merriam-Webster. Skerry. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skerry
  2. Wiktionary contributors. Skerry — etymology. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skerry
  3. Räsänen, Simo (Ximonic). Skerries and islets on Hovdanvika in Flakstad, Nordland, Norway, 2022 June. Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
  4. Forebears. Skeries surname distribution. forebears.io/surnames/skeries