Family name origins & meanings
- Czech (Kárník) : occupational name for a user or maker of hand carts (see Kara). Alternatively, it may be a nickname for a convicted offender, from kárat ‘to punish or scold’.
- Indian (Karnataka, Maharashtra) : Hindu (Brahman, Kayasth Prabhu) name, ultimately from Sanskrit karạna ‘writer’, ‘scribe’. This name is found among the Havyaka Brahmans in Karnataka and the Kayastha Prabhus of Maharashtra.