Carlile Surname Meaning & Coat of Arms

Seen on a gravestone or a census line, Carlile usually leads back to Carlisle. The name is generally explained as “from Carlisle, 'fort of Luguvalos'”. Without the “s” of Carlisle, Carlile is a simpler written form of the same name. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them. Other spellings include Carlyle and Carlysle.

Carlile ranked 7,061 in the 2010 US Census, with 4,739 people answering to the name. That puts it among the top 10,000 US surnames.

Heraldry is personal: arms associated with the Carlisle surname were borne by specific families, and sharing the name does not mean sharing the blazon. For the full story, order the Carlile surname pack.