Crey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Scotland

The surname Crey 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 Crey 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 Crey family

The surname Crey 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 Crey family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Crey 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 Crey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Crey 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 Crey 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 Crey Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Crey family

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: John Victior Ducret settled in America in 1775; Pierre Ducret, aged 40; settled in Louisiana in 1719; Jacob Simon Cray settled in 1772; John Cray, aged 25.

Contemporary Notables of the name Crey (post 1700) +

Martha Crey Thomas (1857-1935), American feminist