Kruse
A German surname most often linked to a nickname for curly hair, and sometimes to a pot or mug word in Low German.
The #1,741 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,999 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kruse is a German surname with more than one possible root, but the strongest historical explanation is that it comes from a word meaning “curly” or “curly-haired,” related to the same older Germanic family as Krause and Crispus. In Low German, kruse can also be connected with a word for a pot, mug, or jug, which may have produced some separate surnames or local byforms. The name may therefore be descriptive rather than occupational, though in some cases it could reflect a nickname or dialect form with a different shade of meaning.
History
Historical surname dictionaries place Kruse especially in northern Germany, including Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania. It appears alongside related forms such as Krause, Krusch, and Crews/Cruse in older surname lists, showing how spelling shifted across dialects and regions. The name later spread beyond Germany through migration, and it remains well represented in German-American communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname scholars grouped Kruse with forms like Krause and Cruice, showing how a single underlying nickname could produce many spellings across languages.
From the historical record
“Crewdson. Fl. Crusen, Crutzen ; D. Kruse; S. Creutz; Dch. Crouse ; G. Krutsch ; p.n. British Surnames”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (1st ed.)