Crooks
A surname usually meaning “from Crook” — a place-name based on a bend, corner, or hook-shaped feature.
The #3,489 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,139 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Crooks is generally an English locational surname. It is usually taken as a variant or pluralized form of Crook, from a place-name built on Old English or earlier northern dialect words for a bend, curve, or nook. In some cases the name may point to someone who lived near a crooked or hook-shaped piece of ground, road, or river rather than to a single fixed village.
History
The historical record shows Crook, Crooke, Crookes, and Crooks used side by side in Britain, especially in northern English records. 19th-century surname writers commonly treated Crooks as a local surname from a place called Crook, and later indexing sources show it appearing in both English and Irish materials. The spelling with final -s may reflect regional variation, family preference, or simple scribal fluctuation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Earlier surname compilations sometimes grouped Crooks with names like Crookshanks and Croaker because they all seemed to involve the idea of something bent or crooked.
From the historical record
“Crook, Crooke» Orookes, Crooks.— Local, *of Crook,' (i) a hamlet in the parish of Sheving- ton, CO. Lane. William del Crok, co. Lane., 133a : Lay Snbddy (Rylands), fk 48.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)