Crutcher
Likely a surname for someone connected with a cross-bearer or with a crouch/cross landmark.
The #5,769 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 51,423 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually treated as the same as Croucher. In the English sources, that name is linked to Middle English crouch, meaning a cross, so it can be understood as someone associated with a cross or cross-bearer. One source also compares it with German Krutsche, suggesting a similar idea of a person connected with a cross-bearing role or symbol.
History
The name appears in English surname collections as a variant form of Croucher, and the spelling Crutcher seems to reflect local pronunciation and spelling variation. It is recorded in historical surname dictionaries rather than as a major widespread medieval name, which fits its relatively modest modern frequency. The form may also have been influenced by German-looking spellings in some later records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source glossed the related form as meaning 'the croucher,' linking it to a cross or cross-marker in the landscape.
From the historical record
“Worcester. CRUTCHER. The same as Croucher. CRUTTENDEN, vulgo CRITTEN- DEN. A place in West Kent. In 1481 the name was written Crotynden. CRUTTWELL. Probably Crudwell, co. Wilts. CRUX. A latinization of Cross. CRYER. Tlie officer in corporate towns,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom