86,424 Global CROSS Family Members

CROSS Family History

INTRODUCTION

An English surname, derived from the pre 7th century Old Norse word "kross", which in Middle English comprehensively displaced the Olde English form of "cruc". As a surname it has several possible origins. The first is that it may have been topographical for someone who lived near a stone cross set up by the roadside or in a market place. In a few instances the surname may have been given originally to someone who lived by a crossroads, but this sense of the word seems to have been a comparatively late development...

SURNAME

Cross (Variant: Crosse)

An English locative name from Middle English cros, denoting someone who lived by a cross. A place where a cross was erected, or where two ways, roads, or streets intersected each other.

In other cases, its European cognates may have denoted someone who carried the cross in processions of the Christian Church, but in English at least the usual word for this sense was Crozier.

In Irish, it is adopted for Mac an Chrosái or McCrossan.

In North America this name has absorbed examples of cognate names from other languages, such as French Lacroix.

Richard del Crosse, 1285 in Assize Rolls (Lancs); William atte Cros, 1327 in Subsidy Rolls (Suffolk); Robert Cros, 1354 in Colchester Court Rolls ; Willelmus atte Cros, 1377 in Poll Tax (Ingthorpe, Rutland); Riens Crosse, 1492 in PROB 11 (West Farleigh, Kent).

John Cross, an English convict from Cambridge, was transported aboard the "Asia" on 22 October 1824, settling in New South Wales, Australia.

In 1891, the surname was recorded with a frequent 19,628 occurrences in England and Wales and a further 673 in Scotland.

In 1881, it was widespread in England especially Lancashire, London and Glasgow. In  Cambridgeshire was a top county of the surname with 616 occurrences.

In 1881, Agricultural Labourer, Farmer and Labourer were the top 3 reported jobs worked by Cross. The most common occupation for the surname in the UK was Agricultural Labourer, with a less common occupation being Coal Miner.

Robert Thomas Cross (1850-1923), was a British astrologer. Cross was one in a series of editors of Raphael's Ephemeris, started by similarly sounding Robert Cross Smith in 1827, who all took the pseudonym Raphael.

Another noted, Robert “Voltage” Cross (b. 1990), an English professional darts player and winner of the World Championship in January 2018.

1881, 1891 Census

1881 Census in Cambridgeshire

Dictionary of American Family Homes, P Hanks OUP 2003

Homes of Family Names in Great Britain, H.B. Guppy, London 1890

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, P.Hanks, Coats, McClure OUP 2016

1860 Lower, Mark A Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom, London: J.R Smith. Public Domain

1857 Arthur, William An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain

https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/asia/1825

J.M.P