This interesting surname is a patronymic of Crook, which is of medieval English origin, and has two possible sources. Firstly, it may be from a topographical name denoting residence by a bend in a river or road, from the Middle English "crok", from the Old Norse "krokr", bend or crook. The name may also be from a metonymic occupational name for a maker, seller, or user of hooks, derived from the same source. The second possilbe origin is the Old Norse nickname "Krokr", meaning "crooked" or "bent", and was originally used to describe someone with a hunch-back, although it was already being used as a personal name in the early Middle Ages in England. The earliest recording of the surname was of one Rainal Croc, who was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the earliest recording of the patronymic was in the late 13th Century (see below). Recorded in the London Church Registers are the marriages of George Crookes and Alice Rogers, on August 18th 1577, at St. Gregory by St. Paul, and of Thomas Crookes and Margrett Cabull, on Dec 23rd 1589, at St. Giles', Cripplegate. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Crokis, which was dated 1297, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire", 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.

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