Harris surname meaning

Harris means "Harry’s" in the genitive sense—Harry being the everyday medieval English form of Henry. So the surname is a parent's-name label: son or household of a man called Harry, parallel to Harrison farther north.

Normans brought Henri/Henry into England; the vernacular Harry then fed surnames. Some Irish families anglicized Ó hEarchadha as Harris, which is why not every tree shares one origin story, but the lead English/Welsh gloss remains son of Harry. The short family gloss is what matters for this catalog.