This unusual and interesting surname, with variant spelling Crosgrove, recorded in London church registers from the mid 18th Century, appears to be of English locational origin from a place named with the old English pre 7th Century "Cros", ultimately from the old Irish "cross", meaning "cross", plus the old English "graf", a grove; however, because Cros(s)grove is not recorded in gazetteers of the British Isles, the name is instead believed to be a dialectal transposition of Cosgrove, a village north of Stony Stratford in Northamptonshire. Recorded as Covesgrave in the Domesday Book of 1086 and as Couesgraua in the 1163 Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire, the place was so called from the old English personal name Cofa, plus "graf"; hence, "Cofa's grove". The surname Crossgrove is particularly well recorded in 19th Century Irish church registers where it may be an English introduction or a dialectal transposition of the Gaelic name O' Coscraigh, (descendant of the Victorious One), Anglicized as Cosgrave. On February 10th 1788 James Crossgrove, an infant was christened in St. Leonards, Shoreditch, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rachel Maria Cosgrove, (christening), which was dated February 27th 1696, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London, during the reign of King William 111, known as "William of Orange and England", 1689 - 1702. 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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