Crews
A surname that may come from a Norman place-name, though some older sources also linked it to a nickname form related to Cruse/Crease.
The #1,475 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,748 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The best-supported explanation in the older sources treats Crews as a Norman surname, from a place-name such as Creus or Creux in Normandy. The form appears in medieval records as de Creus / de Crues, which suggests a locational byname meaning someone from that place. Some 19th-century writers also connected Crews with variants like Cruse or Crease and proposed a nickname sense, but that line is less certain.
History
Medieval record forms in Scotland and England show bearers styled de Creus, de Crues, and similar spellings, pointing to Norman origin. The name later settled into English spelling as Crews, alongside related forms such as Creuse, Crewe, and Cruse. In modern usage it survives mainly as an English-language surname, especially in Britain and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical source notes medieval bearers of the name in Scotland as early as the early 1100s, in records written with Norman-style spellings.
From the historical record
“(i;.s.t. s. Cruae, Crews, Crawea. (l) Nick. ' the cruse,' i.e. the merry; cf, Hcrry, Jolly, Joyce, Merry- weather, &c. ' Crotu, merry, brisk, lively ; crust or crtnts, saucy, mala-”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Crews
- Terry Crews (b. 1968)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.