Karlou Surname Meaning

The Greek surname Karlou (Κάρλου) is a patronymic surname in possessive form, meaning it indicates belonging to a family line. The root Karolos (Κάρολος) is the Greek form of Charles, a name of Germanic origin meaning “free man,” which entered Greek naming usage through European political, royal, and cultural contact beginning in the medieval and early modern periods. As foreign personal names became integrated into Greek society, they were adapted to Greek pronunciation and grammar. The suffix -ou (-ου) represents a possessive grammatical form in Greek surnames meaning “of the family of,” a structure preserved in many regions of Greece and standardized through civil registration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Consequently, the surname Karlou signifies “of the family of Karolos,” reflecting lineage derived from an adopted personal name.