CrivelliItalian From the Italian crivello, which is derived from the Latin cribrum, meaning "sieve," (a mesh food strainer); likely an occupational name for a maker or user of sieves.
CrnkovićCroatian Derived from crn "black". The name refers to a person who was dark-skinned, or a person from the region Crna Gora "Black Mountain" (modern-day Montenegro).
CroakerEnglish Meant "person from Crèvecoeur", the name of various places in northern France ("heartbreak", an allusion to the poverty of the local soil).
CrockettEnglish, Scottish Nickname for someone who affected a particular hairstyle, from Middle English croket ''large curl'' (Old Norman French croquet, a diminutive of croque "curl", "hook").
CrofterEnglish A surname of Scottish origin used in the Highlands and Islands and means “an owner or a tenant of a small farm”. The Old English word croft seems to correspond with the Dutch kroft meaning “a field on the downs”.
CroftonEnglish Derived from a place name meaning "town with a small enclosed field" in Old English.
CrombruggeBelgian, Flemish Possibly means "crooked bridge", from Middle Dutch crom "bent, not straight" and brugge "bridge".
CromptonEnglish Derived from the Old English word "Crometun"
CromwellEnglish Habitational name from places in Nottinghamshire and West Yorkshire named Cromwell, from Old English crumb "bent, crooked" and well(a) "spring, stream".
CronholmSwedish Ornamental name derived from Swedish krona (from Latin corona) meaning "crown" and holme (Old Norse holmr) meaning "small island".
CronjeAfrikaans Altered form of the French surname Cronier, derived from Old French crones, a term denoting a sheltered area by a river bank where fish retreat to. This could be used as an occupational name for someone who fished in such an area, or derived from a place named with the element, such as the French village Crosne.
CronkhiteDutch (Americanized) Americanized form of the obsolete Dutch surname Krankheyt, derived from krankheid meaning "illness, weakness", most likely a nickname for a sickly individual.
CronkiteDutch (Anglicized) Variant form of Cronkhite. A well-known bearer of this surname was the American broadcast journalist and anchorman Walter Cronkite (1916-2009).
CrookScottish, English Possible origin a medieval topographical surname, denoting residence from the Middle English word "crok" from the Old NOrse "Krokr". Possibly a maker or seller of hooks. Another possibility is meaning crooked or bent originally used of someone with a hunch back.
CrooksEnglish Habitational name from Crookes in Sheffield (Yorkshire), named with Old Norse krókr ‘hook, bend’.... [more]
CroomEnglish Based on a nickname for a crippled person or a hunchback, derived from Middle English crom(p) and Old English crumb, meaning "bent", "crooked", or "stopping". (See Crump.)
CroomEnglish An occupational surname for a maker, seller, or user of hooks. Derived from Middle English crome or cromb, meaning "hook" or "crook".
CroomEnglish A habitational surname, describing someone who lived in a place named Croom or Croome.
CrowEnglish From Middle English crow, Old English crawa, applied as a nickname for someone with dark hair or a dark complexion or for someone thought to resemble the bird in some other way.
CrownerEnglish Means "coroner" (from Anglo-Norman corouner "coroner", a derivative of Old French coroune "crown").
CrownoverGerman (Anglicized) Americanised spelling of German Kronauer, denoting someone from Kronau, a town near Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It could also be an Americanised form of Kronhöfer (a variant of Grünhofer), a habitational name for someone from a lost place called Grünhof, derived from Middle High German gruene meaning "green" or kranech meaning "crane" and hof meaning "farmstead".
CrowtherEnglish Originally meant "person who plays the crowd (an ancient Celtic stringed instrument)". It was borne by British entertainer Leslie Crowther (1933-1996).
CroyIrish (Anglicized) A shortened form of the surname McRoy, from Irish Gaelic Mac Rúaidh "son of Ruadh", literally "the red one".
CroyScottish Means "person from Croy", the name of various places in Scotland.
CroydonEnglish From the name of a town in England, which comes from Anglo-Saxon croh “crocus” and denu “valley”.
CrozierEnglish, French English and French occupational name for one who carried a cross or a bishop’s crook in ecclesiastical processions, from Middle English, Old French croisier.
CrudupGerman (Anglicized) Probably an Americanised form of North German Gratop, a nickname for an old man, derived from Middle Low German gra meaning "gray" and top meaning "braid". Famous bearers of this name include the Americans Billy Crudup (1968-), an actor, and Arthur Crudup (1905-1974), a Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist.
CruijffDutch Referred to a person with curly locks of hair, derived from Middle Dutch cruuf, cruve literally meaning "curl, lock", ultimately from Latin curvus. A famous bearer was the Dutch soccer player Johan Cruijff (1947-2016), as well as his son Jordi Cruijff (1974-), also a noted soccer player; both are better known as Johan Cruyff and Jordi Cruyff respectively.
CruikshankScottish From a medieval Scottish nickname for someone with a crooked leg (from Scots cruik "bent" + shank "leg"). This was the surname of British caricaturist George Cruikshank (1792-1872) and British actor Andrew Cruikshank (1907-1988).
CrumbleGerman Probably an altered form of German Krumpel or Krümpel a nickname from Middle High German krum(p) 'deformed crooked'; skeletal deformities were common in the Middle Ages often as a result of childhood illnesses such as rickets.
CrumbleyEnglish Derived from the Old English word crump meaning "bent, crooked." Perhaps a name for a person with an abnormal spine. One notable person with this surname is evil doer Ethan Crumbley, who was a school shooter in Oxford High School in Michigan.
CrumpEnglish Originally a nickname for a crippled or deformed person, from Middle English cromp, crump meaning "bent, crooked, stooping" (from Old English crumb).
CrusoeEnglish (Rare) According to Reaney and Wilson this name was taken to England by John Crusoe, a Huguenot refugee from Hownescourt in Flanders, who settled in Norwich.
CuartoSpanish Means "fourth" in English. It is derived from the Latin word "quartus," which means "fourth." The surname may have originally been used to denote a fourth child in a family or to indicate that the family lived on the fourth floor of a building.
CuatonFilipino Possible alternate transcription of Chinese 廣東 (Guǎngdōng) referring to a coastal province in the South China region.
CubaPortuguese, Asturian-Leonese, Galician, Spanish habitational name from any of the places in Portugal (in the provinces of Alentejo and Beira Baixa) or Spain (in Aragon, Asturies, and Galicia) named Cuba, from cuba ‘barrel’ (from Latin cupa)... [more]
CuerdenEnglish Derived from a geographical locality. 'of Cuerden,' a township in the parish of Leyland, Lancashire.
CuervoSpanish Means "raven, crow" in Spanish, ultimately from Latin corvus. From a nickname for a man with strikingly glossy black hair or with a raucous voice. Alternatively, a habitational name from places containing this word (e.g. El Cuervo, Teruel).
CugnascaItalian Meaning uncertain, possibly from Italian cugnata "hatchet" (from Sicilian cugna "wedge"), or cugnata "related, similar; sister-in-law" (from Latin cognata "related by blood"), or cugino "cousin", combined with nascere "to be born, to sprout".
CugnoItalian From Sicilian cugnu "wedge", indicating someone who lived on a hill or other topographical "wedge", someone whose occupation involved using an axe, or a person who was considered to be hard or angular in personality or appearance.
CuiChinese From Chinese 崔 (cuī) referring to a place called Cui that existed in what is now Shandong province.
CuizonFilipino From Hokkien 貴孫 (kuì sun) meaning "expensive grandchild" or "precious grandchild".
CujecCroatian Derived from the word "cuj" which means "listen" or "hear" in English. Likely used to denote someone who was a good listener or was known for their attentive nature.
CulbertEnglish, Scottish, Irish Meaning and origin are uncertain. Possibly derived from an unattested given name composed of beorht "bright" and an uncertain first element, or an altered form of Cuthbert... [more]
CulkinIrish Reduced anglicization of Irish Gaelic Mac Uilcín meaning "descendant of Uilcín", a diminutive of Ulick, itself an Irish diminutive of William... [more]
CullimoreEnglish (Rare) Apparently a habitational name from an unidentified place. There is a place called Colleymore Farm in Oxfordshire, but it is not clear whether this is the source of the surname, with its many variant spellings
CullyEnglish From an Irish surname which was derived from Ó Colla meaning "descendant of Colla". The Old Irish name Colla was a variant of Conla (perhaps the same Connla).
CulpeperEnglish Variant of Culpepper. Known bearers of this surname include: Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1664), an English herbalist, physician and astrologer; and English colonial administrator Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper (1635-1689), governor of Virginia 1680-1683... [more]
CulpepperEnglish Means "person who collects, prepares and/or sells herbs and spices" (from Middle English cullen "to pick" + pepper).
CulverEnglish Means "person who keeps or looks after doves", or from a medieval nickname for someone thought to resemble a dove (e.g. in mild disposition) (in either case from Middle English culver "dove")... [more]
CulvértFrench, English, Irish English version of the Old French, Culvere. Means Peaceful and Mildest of tempers.
CumbaGaulish A topographic name from Gaulish cumba meaning "narrow valley" or a habitational name for a village associated with this name (see Coombe).
CummerEnglish The surname Cummer has origins in both English and Scottish cultures. In English, it's thought to be a topographic name for someone who lived by a bend in a river, derived from the Middle English word "cummer," meaning "bend" or "meander." In Scottish, it could also be a variant of the surname Comer, derived from the Gaelic word "comar," meaning "confluence" or "meeting of waters."
CummingIrish, Scottish, English Perhaps from a Celtic given name derived from the element cam "bent", "crooked"
CundallEnglish This is an English surname, deriving from the village so-named in North Yorkshire. The village takes its name from the Cumbric element cumb meaning 'dale' (cognate with Welsh cwm, 'valley') and Old Norse dalr meaning 'valley', forming a compound name meaning 'dale-valley'.
CurcioItalian This name derives from Latin “curtĭus”, which in turn derives from the Latin “curtus” meaning “shortened, short, mutilated, broken, incomplete”.
CurialeItalian (Rare) In ancient Rome, the curiales (from co + viria, 'gathering of men') were initially the leading members of a gentes (clan) of the city of Rome. Their roles were both civil and sacred. Each gens curialis had a leader, called a curio... [more]
CurrentIrish The surname of Current, is of Irish/Scottish with several different families, and meanings of this name. There are many spelling variations of this name.
CurrerEnglish It was a name given to someone who was a messenger or person who "dresses tanned leather". In the former case, the surname Currer is derived from the Old French words corëor or courreour, which means "courier".
CurrieScottish, Irish, English Irish: Habitational name from Currie in Midlothian, first recorded in this form in 1230. It is derived from Gaelic curraigh, dative case of currach ‘wet plain’, ‘marsh’. It is also a habitational name from Corrie in Dumfriesshire (see Corrie).... [more]
CurrierEnglish Occupational surname meaning "a worker who prepared leather".
CurrotoSpanish (Latin American) Spanish surname with unknown origin. Uruguayan / Spanish singer Lucas Curroto has this surname.
CusackIrish An Irish family name of Norman origin, originally from Cussac in Guienne (Aquitaine), France. The surname died out in England, but is common in Ireland, where it was imported at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century.
CusimannoItalian, Sicilian from the personal name Cusimano which may be a fusion of two Christian saints' names: Cosma and Damiano with a loss of the last syllable of one and the first of the other... [more]
CuspedalLeonese It indicates familial origin within the eponymous neighborhood of the municipality of Santu Miḷḷanu.
CusterGerman (Anglicized) Anglicization of the German surname Köster or Küster, literally "sexton". A famous bearer was George Custer (1839-1876), the American cavalry general. General Custer and his army were defeated and killed by Sioux and Cheyenne forces under Sitting Bull in the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876; also known colloquially as Custer's Last Stand).