Crosby
A habitational surname meaning “from the cross farm” or from one of several places called Crosby.
The #851 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,612 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Crosby is a place-based surname taken from one of several settlements called Crosby in northern England and Scotland. The place-name is usually explained from Old Norse kross, meaning “cross,” plus bý, meaning “farm” or “settlement,” so the literal sense is “cross farm” or “farm by the cross.” Some 19th-century writers also linked the name to specific parishes and townships rather than a single origin point, which is expected for a widespread locational surname.
History
The surname is well established in English records and spread from multiple Crosby place-names, especially in Cumberland, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Ayrshire. Because there are several independent localities with this name, different families named Crosby may not share a common ancestor. The name is also found in Manx material in forms connected with Norse settlement vocabulary.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Manx place-name studies, Crosby has been glossed as Krossa-byr, literally “Cross Farm,” a neat reminder of its Norse roots.
From the historical record
“CROSBIE. See Crosby. CROSBY. Parishes, &c. in cos. Ayr, Cumberland, Lincoln, York, Westmoreland, and Lancaster, and an ancient chapelry in Ayrshire. CROSCOMBE. A parish in co. Somerset. CROSIIAW. SeeCrashaw. CROSIER. A crosier is a bishop's staff, fashioned like a shepherd's crook, symbo- lical of his spiritual…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom