Cricket

This interesting surname, of English origin with variant spellings Cricket and Crickett, is of English locational origin, from Cricket Malherbie and St. Thomas, Somerset, deriving from the British (the extinct Celtic language of the ancient Britons) "cruc" meaning "hill", plus "et", the French diminutive suffix meaning "little", hence "little Cruc". The placename is recorded as "Cruchet" and "Cruche" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Cryket Malherbe" (1320) in the "Inquisitiones Post Mortem". The surname dates back to the late 16th Century (see below). Church recordings include one Sarah Crickett, who married Francis Decker on January 5th 1657, at St. Antholin's, Budge Row, London, and Mary Cricket, who married Thomas West on October 7th 1677, at St. Dunstan's, Stepney. A Coat of Arms was granted to a Crickett family of Blackmore, Essex, which consists of a silver shield with three drakes' heads erased proper. The Crest being a drake's head erased proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Katheryn Crickett, which was dated 1599, marriage to Humfrey Allmors, at St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.