Scranney

This unusual surname is recorded in the spellings of Scrane, Scraney, Scranney and Scranny, although in all cases the numbers of the name are limited. When names are recordings are few, this is usually because either the name originates from some medieval village, perhaps in this case 'Scrainga' in Lincolnshire, the modern village of Scrane, meaning the trestle bridge, and so recorded in the time of King Henry 11, 1154 - 1189, or it is a derivation of another surname altogether. Before the 19th century local dialects around the Isles of Britain were so 'thick' as to virtually constitute separate languages, and when somebody moved from say the North of England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland to London area, as many did in search of work, their surname often became transposed in spelling, sometimes to the point where it was almost unrecognizable. In this case by long experience and a process of elimination, we believe that when this name is spelt as Scrane, it probably originates from the Lincolnshire village, but that as Scraney, Scranney, and Scranny it is probably from the Irish surnames Craney or Cranny, formerly Mac Bhranaigh, and found mainly in Ulster. Curiously there is also a village called Cranny in County Clare, and therefore there is a very faint possibility that some nameholders may originate from there. Early examples of the surname recordings taken from surviving church registers include: Paule Scrane, who married Grace Snelling at Willesborough, Kent, on May 2nd 1614, John Scranny, a witness at St Johns church, Hackney, East London, on July 23rd 1809, and Phoebe Scraney, who married John Legg at the church of St John the Baptist, Shoreditch, London, on October 15th 1843.