Crawley
A surname usually taken from one of several English place-names called Crawley, meaning a person from that place.
The #2,874 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,654 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Crawley is a locational surname, from any of several English places called Crawley. The place-name is generally explained from Old English elements meaning “crow” and “clearing” or “wood,” giving the sense of a “crow-haunted clearing.” In medieval records the surname appears with forms like de Crawley, showing the normal “from Crawley” pattern for locative surnames.
History
The name is associated with places in counties such as Sussex, Hampshire, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, and Bedfordshire, so the surname could arise independently in more than one area. Later spellings and related forms sometimes overlap with Crowley and Croly in historical records, which can make family lines tricky to separate. As with many English locational names, it spread beyond its original villages as people moved to towns and, later, overseas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because there are multiple English places named Crawley, the same surname could have separate local origins in different counties.
From the historical record
“frewshire. CRAWLEY. Parishes, &c., In Nor- CRE 75 CRO”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom