Family name origins & meanings
- Lithuanian (Kairys) and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : nickname from Lithuanian kairys ‘left-handed’.
- Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : habitational name from Kajry (Kairiai), a village in Lithuania, or a nickname for a left-handed person, ‘left’.
- Greek : of uncertain etymology. In Crete it is a nickname for a stingy or avaricious person.