Crawford
A habitational surname meaning “from Crawford,” originally referring to places in Scotland and northern England.
The #156 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,877 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Crawford is a locational surname taken from place-names in Lanarkshire and other parts of Britain. The name was recorded in older forms such as Craufurd and Craufuird, and is generally understood as meaning a ford associated with a crows' or raven-like bird name in the first element, though the exact early place-name history is not fully certain. As with many British surnames, it began as a way to identify someone by their home district rather than as a hereditary family name.
History
The surname is strongly associated with an old Scottish family, and one early bearer named Sir Reginald de Craufurd, sheriff of Ayrshire in the late 13th century, is often cited as an ancestor of later Crawford lines. Bardsley and Lower both treat it as a local surname from Crawford in Lanarkshire, with many later spelling variants. The name spread widely in Scotland and then to England, North America, and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older records show a surprising range of spellings, and some 19th-century references even grouped Crawford with variants like Crafford and Crofford.
From the historical record
“coeur. CRAWFORD. A parish of Lanarkshire, and several otlier places in North Britain. Sir Reginald de Craufurd, sheriff of Ayr- shire in 12"J6, seems to have been the common ancestor of many branches of the family. The name \vas anciently written Craufuird. Tradition says tliat tlie first liearer of tliis name was…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom