Croxton

This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval English origin and is a variant form of the locational surname "Croxton", deriving from the various places so called in Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Staffordshire. There is also a "Cruxton" in Dorset, but this particular variant of the name is not found recorded in that area. All the places share the same meaning and derivation, which is "Croc's enclosure or settlement", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Croc", adopted from the Old Norse "Krokr", with "tun", a settlement, enclosure. The surname is first found recorded in the late 13th Century, as below, and the development includes Abbas de Crokeston, (1275, Leicestershire), Jane Cruxson (London 1575) and Frances Crockson (1605, London). Elyn Cruxton was christened at St. Pancras, London in 1550, and the marriage of Anne Cruxton to Paul Chantrell was recorded at St. Mary le Bow, on the 26th of February 1578. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Croxtone, which was dated 1273, in the "Northumberland Hundred Rolls", 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.