Northern English, Scottish, and northern Irish: from the Old
Norse byname Orri ‘blackcock’ (the male black grouse).
Scottish: nickname for someone with a sallow complexion, from
Gaelic odhar ‘pale’, ‘dun’.
English: topographic name for
someone who lived on a shore or ridge, from Old English ora
‘shore’, ‘hill-slope’, ‘flat-topped ridge’, or a habitational name
from a place named with this word (see Ore).
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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