Crombe History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The history of the name Crombe goes back those Anglo-Saxon tribes that once ruled over Britain. Such a name was given to a person with an abnormal curvature of the spine. The surname Crombe is derived from the Old English word crump, which means bent or crooked. 1

In some cases the surname may be derived from either of the place names Croom, in Yorkshire, or Croome in Worcestershire.

Early Origins of the Crombe family

The surname Crombe was first found in Herefordshire, where "Thomas Crump was mayor of Hereford in 1610. The Crumps are also established in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Monmouthshire, and further reference to them will be found under one or more of those counties." 2

Looking back further, researchers found entries in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 with early spellings of the family: Richard le Crumppe, Salop (Shropshire); and Constancia Crompe, Oxfordshire. 3

"The surname is well known in the United States. Bridget Crompe emigrated to Virginia in 1635, and Thomas Crompe was already settled there in 1634." 3

Early History of the Crombe family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Crombe research. Another 95 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1176, 1273, 1382, 1564, 1711 and 1800 are included under the topic Early Crombe History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Crombe Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Crombe family name include Crump, Crumpe, Crompe, Crum, Crummey, Crumb, Crumbe, Crombe, Crom, Cromm, Cromp, Crumm, Crommey, Crummie, Crummy, Crommie and many more.

Early Notables of the Crombe family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Henry Crump (fl. 1382), Irish theologian, an Irishman by birth. He entered the Cistercian order in the monastery of Balkynglas, that is, Baltinglass...
Another 31 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Crombe Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Crombe family to Ireland

Some of the Crombe family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 80 words (6 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Crombe family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Investigation of the origins of family names on the North American continent has revealed that early immigrants bearing the name Crombe or a variant listed above: Giles Crump, who settled in Virginia in 1637; and was followed by Thomas Crump in 1653. Francis Crump settled in Jamaica in 1760; Margaret Crump settled in Pennsylvania in 1772.

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)