Croke

The ultimate origin of this name is the Olde Norse personal byname Krokr meaning "bent" or "crooked" and originally bestowed on a devious schemer. This name was introduced into England from Denmark or Normandy where it took the form Croc. One, Rainald filius (son of) Croc appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Hampshire and a Matthew Croc in the 1158, Pipe Rolls of that county. The Medieval English word "crok", borrowed from the Old Norse "krokr", was used in a topographic sense to describe someone who lived by a bend in a river or road as in William del Crok "The Lay Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire", dated 1332. Crook in Westmoreland, recorded as Croke circa 1175 and as Crok in 1267, is named from the medieval English "Crok", a bend, as in Crookes in the West Riding of Yorkshire. One, Thomas de Crokes appears in the 1279 "Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire". Sir George Croke (1560 - 1642) was a judge and law reformer; justice of the King's bench, 1628. His reports, written in Norman-French extend over "sixty years" (1580 - 1640). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Lefwin Croc, which was dated 1066, The Domesday Book of Suffolk, during the reign of King William I, "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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.