Crain History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland
Ireland

An ancient Scottish tribe called the Boernicians were the ancestors of the first people to use the surname Crain. It is a name for a person whose was tall, and had long legs. This nickname derived from the Old English words cranuc, and cornuc, which mean crane.

Early Origins of the Crain family

The surname Crain was first found in Suffolk, England, before the name made its way North to Scotland.

"In 1261 an inquest found that a man named Crane had held, by gift of King William the Lion, the lands of Inyaney and the office of gate-keeper of the royal castle, and that he never raised an army or gave assistance or did anything else in the world for the said lands, except gate-keeper of our lord the king's castle of Montrose. Cran and Crann are current in the shires of Aberdeen, Banff, and Inverness, and Patrick Crane is recorded in Aberdeen in 1398. Crane is the spelling used by an old family in the parish of Maryton." 1

Early History of the Crain family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Crain research. Another 106 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1398 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Crain History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Crain Spelling Variations

Spelling rules only evolved in the last few centuries with the invention of the printing press and the first dictionaries. Spelling variations are extremely common in names from before that period. Crain has been spelled Crane, Craine, Crain, Cran, Crann, Crayne and others.

Early Notables of the Crain family

More information is included under the topic Early Crain Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Crain Ranking

In the United States, the name Crain is the 1,773^rd most popular surname with an estimated 17,409 people with that name. 2

Migration of the Crain family to Ireland

Some of the Crain family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 63 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Crain migration to the United States +

After making their great crossing, many Boernician-Scottish families settled along the east coast of North America. When the War of Independence broke out, United Empire Loyalists moved north to Canada while the rest stayed to fight. The ancestors of many of these Scots still populate the continent. This century, through Clan societies and other Scottish organizations, they began to rediscover their collective national heritage. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Crain or a variant listed above:

Crain Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John Crain, aged 32, who landed in Mobile County, Ala in 1844 3
Philip Crain, who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1860

Contemporary Notables of the name Crain (post 1700) +

Winnie Crain, American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from Kansas, 1952 (alternate), 1960
William Henry Crain (1848-1896), American Democratic Party politician, U.S. Representative from Texas, 1885-96 (7th District 1885-93, 11th District 1893-96); Died in office 1896
William C. Crain, American politician, Member of New York State Assembly from Herkimer County, 1832, 1845-46
Thomas C. T. Crain, American Democratic Party politician, Justice of New York Supreme Court 1st District, 1925-27; New York County District Attorney, 1930-31; Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1932. Cross-reference: Curtis A. Peters
Thomas C. Crain, American Republican politician, Member of Missouri State House of Representatives from Christian County, 1929-32
Ross Crain, American Libertarian politician, Candidate for U.S. Representative from California, 1990 (2nd District), 1992 (3rd District), 1994 (3rd District), 1998 (3rd District)
Robert M. Crain, American politician, Delegate to New Hampshire State Constitutional Convention from Surry, 1948
Robert Crain, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Maryland, 1924. Interment somewhere in Mt. Victoria, Maryland
Ralph B. Crain, American politician, Mayor of North Kansas City, Missouri, 1967
Newton Crain, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Texas, 1928
... (Another 20 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)