Overview

The surname Cree is a multi-origin surname - it originated in the number of different places independently. These places are all within Britain and Ireland.

In this Section of the Cree Surname web site we look at these various origins of the surname. We also discuss the way it has spread by migration from those origins to all parts of the English-speaking world. We look at its frequency in different areas and at different times.

Origins

In these islands the Cree ancestral lines show strong convergence as we delve further back in time. As a result we can be fairly certain that most Cree lines can be placed into four separate unrelated groups. In theory therefore, most Crees derive their surname from just four or so individuals, one Scottish, one English, one French (Huguenot) and one Irish.

The main English Cree progenitor can be identified as James Cree of Bolsover, born 1644; the Irish one is John Cree of Ennis, County Clare probably born before 1700; the Huguenot is Pierre Jacob Carré, born 1706 (but it was in England that some of his descendants changed their surname to Cree); the Scottish one probably lived too long ago ever to be identified, although a John of Cre, merchant in Perth in 1459, was probably a member of this line. A few Cree lines (including one or two outside Britain and Ireland) cannot yet be connected to any of the lines of known origin. See the Origins page for more on this.

Migration

We are reasonably sure that most Cree lines overseas can trace their ancestries to one of these British or Irish lines, even though the actual links have not been traced. We will look in more detail at these migrations by which the surname Cree had spread away from Britain and Ireland. See the Cree Migration page for more on this.

Distribution

We can also look at the frequency of the name CREE in different areas at different times and by mapping these see how the name was and is distributed. Where are the Cree hot-spots, where has the name thrived and where has it died out? See the Distribution page for more on this.