Croom
An English and Irish surname most likely from a nickname meaning “crooked” or from a place name.
The #7,545 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 70,058 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally explained in two ways. In English usage, it is likely a nickname from a word meaning “crooked,” with related forms such as Crome and Croome; one 19th-century source also connects it with a Yorkshire parish name. In Irish contexts, it may reflect Gaelic place-name or surname traditions recorded in later genealogical and local-history sources, though the exact route is not always certain.
History
19th-century surname writers often linked Croom to a descriptive sense of “crooked,” while some also treated it as a local surname from a place name. The form appears in English records and in Irish family and place-name contexts, which suggests more than one origin may have contributed to its use. Because of that, modern bearers may not share a single ancestral line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A related 19th-century note explains Croom as part of a wider family of surnames built on the idea of something bent or twisted, rather than as a rare standalone name.
From the historical record
“prolial)ly identical with Croke. CROOM. 1. A parish in Yorkshire. 2. Gael. A circle of stones. CROSBIE. See Crosby. CROSBY. Parishes, &c. in cos. Ayr, Cumberland, Lincoln, York, Westmoreland, and Lancaster, and an ancient chapelry in Ayrshire. CROSCOMBE. A parish in co. Somerset. CROSIIAW. SeeCrashaw.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom