Contents [hide]

Cree History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

United States Canada Australia New Zealand

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Citations

Cree History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Scotland

The surname Cree is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came. The name Cree is derived from the Old French word "creste," meaning the "peak of a hill", and indicated that the original bearer lived at or near such a place.

Early Origins of the Cree family

The surname Cree was first found in Burgundy (French: Bourgogne), an administrative and historical region of east-central France, where the family has held a family seat since ancient times.

Early History of the Cree family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cree research. Another 173 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1435, 1632, 1777, 1791, 1796, 1800, 1810, 1840 and 1852 are included under the topic Early Cree History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cree Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Crest, Cret, Crests, Crets, Creste, Crete, Crête, Crestes, Cretes, du Crest, Ducrest, du Cret, Ducret, Crais, Crait, Crez, Ducrais, Ducrait, Ducrez, Cray, Crey and many more.

Early Notables of the Cree family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Alexandre Louis Ducrest de Villeneuve (1777-1852), a French naval officer and admiral. He was born in Paris and joined the Navy in 1791 when he was just 14 years old. By 1796, he was a midshipman first class, and in 1800 he...
Another 50 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cree Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cree Ranking

In the United States, the name Cree is the 13,315^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1

Cree migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Cree Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

John Cree, who arrived in Virginia in 1701 2

Cree Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Hannah Cree, aged 54, who arrived in New York in 1864 2
Jane Cree, aged 56, who landed in New York in 1864 2

Cree migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Cree Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Mr. Cree, who landed in Victoria, British Columbia in 1862

Cree migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Cree Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Miss. Jane Cree, British Convict who was convicted in Newark-Upon-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Asia" on 9th March 1847, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 3
Thomas H. Cree, aged 29, who arrived in South Australia in 1849 aboard the ship "Harry Lorrequer" 4
Alison Cree, aged 27, a servant, who arrived in South Australia in 1849 aboard the ship "Harry Lorrequer" 4
Thomas Cree, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Harry Lorrequer" in 1849 4
Allison Cree, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Harry Lorrequer" in 1849 4
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Cree migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Cree Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Mr. J. Cree, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "William Watson" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 6th January 1858 5
Mrs. E. Cree, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "William Watson" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 6th January 1858 5
Matilda Cree, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "William Watson" arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 6th January 1858 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Cree (post 1700) +

Linda Cree, American politician, Candidate for Presidential Elector for Michigan, 2012 6
J. F. Cree, American politician, Member of West Virginia State Senate 1st District, 1903-04 6
George B. Cree, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from Texas, 1944 6
Adam Cree (b. 1990), British ice hockey goaltender
Thomas Scott Cree (1915-1990), Australian rower who competed for Great Britain at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Gordon Cree (b. 1977), Scottish arranger, orchestrator, conductor and composer
Alderman Leslie Cree MBE, MLA (b. 1941), Unionist politician from Northern Ireland
Sam Cree (1928-1980), Northern Irish playwright
John Scott Cree, English comedian and entertainer
Cree Summer Francks (b. 1969), American-Canadian actress, voice actress and singer, daughter of Don Francks

Historic Events for the Cree family +

HMS Prince of Wales

Mr. Crawford Annesley Cree, British Ordnance Telegrahist, who sailed into battle on the HMS Prince of Wales (1941) and died in the sinking 7

HMS Royal Oak

Rev. James Douglas Becket Cree (1900-1939), British Chaplain with the Royal Navy aboard the HMS Royal Oak (1939) when she was torpedoed by U-47 and sunk; he died in the sinking 8

Citations +

"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)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 14th February 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/asia/1847
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) HARRY LORREQUER 1849. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1849HarryLorrequer.htm
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 28) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
HMS Prince of Wales Crew members. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listprincecrew.html
Ships hit by U-boats crew list HMS Royal Oak (08) - (Retrieved 2018 February, 9th) - retrieved from https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship68.html