Cress History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
The surname Cress 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 Cress 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 Cress family
The surname Cress 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 Cress family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cress 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 Cress History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Cress 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 Cress 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 Cress Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Cress Ranking
In the United States, the name Cress is the 4,909th most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 1
Cress migration to the United States +
Some of the first settlers of this family name were:
Cress Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
- Ulrich Cress, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1743 2
- Joh Peter Cress, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1752 2
- Johan Henrich Cress, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1752 2
- Niclas Cress, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1752 2
- Henry Cress, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1763 2
Cress migration to Canada +
Some of the first settlers of this family name were:
Cress Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
- Ephraim Cress, who landed in Canada in 1831
- Jacob Cress, who landed in Canada in 1831
Cress migration to Australia +
Emigration to
Australia followed the
First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:
Cress Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
- Sophia Cress, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Candahar" in 1851 3
Cress 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:
Cress Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
- Samuel Cress, aged 27, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Shamrock" in 1855
- Louisa Cress, aged 21, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Shamrock" in 1855
Contemporary Notables of the name Cress (post 1700) +
- Walker James "Foots" Cress (1917-1996), American Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in 1948 and 1949
- Roman William Cress (b. 1977), American two-time gold, five-time sliver medalist track athlete
- Paul H. Cress (1939-2004), Canadian computer scientist, known for creating WATFOR (WATerloo FORtran), for the IBM System/360 family of computers
- Frederick Harold Cress AM (1938-2009), British-born, Australian painter, awarded the Archibald Prize in 1988 for his portrait of John Beard
- Frances Cress Welsing (1935-2016), born Frances Luella Cress, an American afrocentrist psychiatrist
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)
- State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) CANDAHAR 1851. Retrieved http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1851Candahar.htm