My great grandmother was called Margaret Carlaw. She was born in Whitburn, West Lothian in Scotland in 1884. In researching her family, I became intrigued by the idea that it may be possible to trace a single origin for all the Carlaws in Scotland. That is unlikely, but there are relatively few Carlaws in genealogical databases and therefore I think it will be possible to carry out a fairly comprehensive one name study.

There are a number of name variants and deviant spellings of Carlaw. The most common is Carlow, which also has a separate origin in the Irish town of the same name. Initially the Carlow surname will not be included in this study which will start with searches for the exact name Carlaw.  I hope to generate lists of deviant spellings and variants with a similar origin empirically as I work through the core datasets.  This should allow me to expand the scope of the survey in a structured way.

Surname dictionaries identify the origin of Carlaw, as a lost place, possibly near Torphichen.   The distribution of the surname certainly suggests an origin in West or Midlothian.    There is an intriguing entry in an index of. latin "Retours of Heirs" which mentions the "landis of car-law and riddhauche".  Riddauche may be Red Heughs which was located near present day Edinburgh Park by the Gogar Burn.