This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Crawford,' a parish in Lanarkshire, also several smaller places in North Britain. 'Sir Reginald de Craufurd, sheriff of Ayrshire in 1296, seems to have been the common ancestor of many branches of the family' (Lower's Patr. Brit). The variants of this surname are extremely numerous, among which are Crowfoot, Crafford, Croffit; v. Crofford.

Nicholas de Crauford, Somerset, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Robert de Crauford, Oxfordshire, ibid.

1685. Baptised — Anne, d. John Crawford: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1744. Buried — A. Crawford: St. Thomas the Apostle (London).

— Crawford, q.v.

A parish of Lanarkshire, and several other places in North Britain. Sir Reginald de Craufurd, sheriff of Ayrshire in 1296, seems to have been the common ancestor of many branches of the family. The name was anciently written Craufuird.

Local: from the barony of Crawford in Lanarkshire-cru, bloody, and ford, a pass. The family are descended from Reginald de Crawford, living in the beginning of the twelfth century, who was the youngest son of Alan fourth Earl of Richmond.

Local. First assumed by the proprietor of the lands and barony of Crawford, in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The extreme ancestor of the ancient family of Crawford, in Scotland, was Reginald, youngest son of Alan, the fourth Earl of Richmond. He seems to have accompanied David the First to the north, and to have received extensive grants of land in Strath Cluyd, or Clydesdale, whence his immediate descendants adopted the name of Crawford, then forming one of the largest baronies in Scotland, and signifying in Gaelic "The pass of blood," from cru, bloody, and ford, a pass or way, as commemorative, probably, of some sanguinary conflict between the Aborigines and the Roman invaders. The name has been derived by others from crodh and port, pronounced cro—fort, signifying "a sheltering place for cattle."