Crutcher

Recorded in the spellings of Croucher, Crowcher, and Crutcher, this is an English medieval surname. Perhaps surprisingly it is not a nickname or some lost job designation, but is topographical. It describes somebody who lived by a "cross" of which there are many examples, or at a cross roads. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century word "cruc", which after the Viking Invasions of the 8th and 9th centuries was largely replaced by the Norse "kross" or "cross". Toponymics formed by the addition of -er to some topographical feature as for example to bridge to give the surname Bridger and brook to Brooker were popular in Southern England from the early 14th Century. They indicate the "dweller at". Early examples of the surname recording include: Christina le Crochere in the "Pipe Rolls" of Bedfordshirefor the year 1297, and John Crouchere in the Assize Court Rolls of Cambridgeshire for 1383. Other recordings are those of John Crowcher, the rector of Feltwell, in Norfolk in 1430, whilst on July 11th 1558, George Croucher and Alys Keyser were married at Christchurch, Greyfriars, in the city of London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of David Crucher. This was dated 1220, in the "Curia Regis" rolls of Somerset, during the reign of King Henry 111, 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.