Cream

Recorded as Crema and Creamer, this interesting surname derives from two possible origins. Firstly it may be an English occupational name for a seller of dairy products, from the Old French and Medieval English "creme", cream from the late Latin "crama". The name is also found in Scotland and Northern Ireland where it is believed to be a cognative of "kramer", an occupational name for a shopkeeper pedlar from the Germanic word "kramer", shopkeeper, itself a derivative of the Old High German word "cram", trading post. In the "old statistical account (1792) of the parish of Kirkden in Angus, "Creamers" are described as "persons who go through the parish and neighbourhood and buy butter, hens, eggs etc., mostly for the Dundee market". The surname first appears in records in the early 16th Century (see below). The London church registers record the christening of one Abraham Creme at St. Margaret's, Westminster on January 1st 1552, and the marriage of a James Creamer to Ellin Barley at St. Andrew by the Wardrobe on June 26th 1581. John Crammar was christened at Edinburgh on February 26th 1760. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gerhard Kremer, Flemish cartographer, which was dated 1512, who invented "Mercator projection", during the reign of King Henry V111, "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.