Where the Warren name comes from

Warren is a common English and Irish surname taken from the Norman family de Warenne. That family was named for Varenne, a hamlet near Arques-la-Bataille in Normandy. The hamlet stands on the river Varenne, written Warinna in medieval documents.

The river name comes from a Celtic root, var- or ver-, meaning river or water. That root goes back to a Proto-Indo-European word for water, rain and flow, and the Latin river name Avara is linked to it. The change from an opening V to a W shows Germanic influence, likely from Proto-Germanic war-, meaning to protect or defend.