The story
- Proto-Germanic · derived from*erpaz“light brown”
- Old English · derived fromeorp“swarthy”
- English todayEarp
The definitive origin is unclear. Some are proposed, including Old English eorp (“swarthy”), from Proto-Germanic *erpaz (“light brown”); or a connection to the placenames Ypres (Belgium) or Erpe (Netherlands).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.