Crocombe

This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname from the place called "Crowcombe" in Somerset. The placename was first recorded in the Saxon Charters of 904 as "crauuancumb", and appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Crawecumbe". The name means "crow valley", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "crawa", crow, and "cumb", meaning "a coomb, a deep hollow or valley". Locational surnames were developed when a former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work and were best identified by the name of the birthplace. The modern surname can be found in two forms, Crowcombe and Crocombe. Locational names were generally given to the landowners and especially to those former inhabitants who moved to another area. The marriage of Giles Crocombe and Ann Beall was recorded on the 29th October 1602 at North Petherton, Somerset. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert de Crokum, which was dated 1292, in the Pipe Rolls of Northumberland, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.