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Updated June 9, 2019

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.

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