Crabb
An English surname most likely taken from a crab-apple tree or a place marked by one.
The #5,897 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 52,768 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Crabb is usually explained as a local or topographic surname, referring to someone who lived by a crab-apple tree or at a place identified by such a tree. In older English surnames, the word could point simply to the crab-tree, with the final -b reflecting historical spelling rather than a separate meaning. Some 19th-century scholars noted that early forms do not always show the expected prepositions like atte or de la, so the exact grammatical pathway is not entirely certain.
History
Bardsley treated Crabb as essentially the same surname-family as Crabtree, with a strong English, especially Yorkshire, association. The spelling Crabb or Crabbe is found in medieval and later records, and the form has also been carried to North America. Because the earliest evidence is not perfectly straightforward, the name is usually presented as likely topographic rather than absolutely proven in every case.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Victorian surname writers explicitly compared Crabb with other tree-based names like Rowntree, Plumptre, Oake, and Ash.
From the historical record
“Orabtrae.— Local, ' at the crab- tree* (v. Crabb), from residence ihereb^. This is ■ great Yarkshlrc surname; cf. Rowntree, Plumptre, Oake, Chestnut Ash, Nash, 8Cc. It is odd to think that by dwelling beside a particular crab-tree, the”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances