As described in historical dictionaries

Patronymica Britannica (1860)

DACRE. Early genealogists pretend that this name was borrowed during the Crusades from Acre in Palestine, (quasi DAcre). " The d' Acres took tlieir name from Acres in the Hoi}' Land, where one of their ancestors fouglit. Mr. Gale would derive the name from the Cohors Dacorum stationed here," — viz.atDacre, co Cumberland. Hutchinson's Cumb. i. 4G8. Whatever may have been the origin of the name of the place, there is no doubt that tlie famil}' derive their surname from it, as we find them in possession temp. Edw. I., and from them at a subsequent period sprang the two noble houses of Lord Dacre of Gilsland, called Dacre of the North, and Lord Dacre of Herstmouceux, called Dacre of the South. Tlie latter title came however through a female into the family of Fynes, from whom through other female Imes it has descended to the present peer.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.


BritishSurnames.uk is a Good Stuff website.