Croan

Recorded in many forms including Croan, Crohan, Cron, Crone, Crown, Crowin, Crowne, and Croughan, this very interesting surname, widely recorded both in England and Ireland, has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation. Firstly, Crowne, and its variants Cron, Crone and Crowin, may be of Pomeranian origin, and a house name for someone who lived in a house with the sign of the crown, deriving from the German "kron", Polish "krojn", crown, or a nickname for someone who had a tonsure in fulfilment of a religious vow. This name appears in Norway and Denmark as Crone, and as Kro(o)n in Sweden, and was introduced into both Ireland and England by Pomeranian immigrants. On January 18th 1540, Agnes Crowne and John Boddie were married at St. Mildred Poultry, London, and on May 14th 1626, the marriage of Margarett Crowne to Richard Pickingdale took place at St. Alphage's, Greenwich, Kent. Some families of the name Crone or Crowne belonging to Byblox, Doneraile, in County Cork, are of Pomeranian origin, and one Daniel Crone, of that county, figures in a list of Protestant immigrants who were made denizens of Ireland in the reign of Charles 11 (1660 - 1685). In Connacht, however the name Crowne, Croan, Crohan and Croughan is a form of the Old Gaelic "Mac Conchruachain", meaning the son of the hound of Croghan, an example being that of John, the son of Thomas Crowne and Bridget McLoughlin, who was christened at Drumahaire, County Leitrim on January 15th 1867. Throughout the centuries surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.