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This article introduces the range of spellings of the surname CREE and some similar names that might or might not be related to CREE. Further articles in the Family History - Scotland sub-section look in detail at the development of the spelling of CREE in Scotland and attempt to pinpoint where the name might have originated there. Our surname, Cree, has probably been spoken just as we say it today ever since it was first used as a English-language surname, although there are, and always have been, regional differences in its pronunciation. However it may be that some of its derivations are from a name in one of the Celtic languages - Scottish Gaelic, Irish or Manx. There is a tendency for Celtic words that end in a "soft" consonant sound (like the -gh in Irish Lough) to drop that sound when the word is anglicised. This may have important implications for tracing the origins of our name in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man. While its sound has remained unchanged for many centurues, our surname has undoubedly been written using a number of different spellings. The problem is to decide which spellings genuinely represent the name Cree, and which are really other surnames. |
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DE KREF |
De Kref, de Crech, de Creich and Creich are all early surnames found in records in the eastern lowlands of Scotland from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Century that might or might not be forerunners of the name CREE. We can be sure (because of spelling conventions of the time) that DE KREF, DE CRECH and DE CREICH were all pronounced with the long vowel sound that we now write as -EE-. Some of these names were contemporary with each other. It seems more likely than not that at least one of them developed into CREE. |
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OF CRE |
John of Cre is listed as a merchant in Perth in 1459 and 1462. (Source: The Guildry Book of Perth) |
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CRE |
By 1544 the OF has been dropped and the name is simply CRE (Source: The Revolt of the Four Earls). It continued as such in various deeds in the Perth area until about 1600. The same form is found in Buckinghamshire a century or so earlier where we have Richard CRE and Roger CRE in 1332 (Source: Richard and Roger Cre of Buckinghamshire). This suggests the same same spelling convention of a single letter 'e' represnting the sound we now write as -EE- (as mentioned above under DE KREF etc.). This is supported in the source by the entry preceding that of Richard Cre which reads "William le reue." This is probably an occupational surname relating to the position of reeve. What seems to be lacking in England is any other example of this spelling. Nor are there earlier forms equivalent to the Scots OF CRE or KREF, etc. mentioned above, or subsequent transitional forms like the Scots CREY or CRIE leading to CREE (as below). This may be related to the different development paths of the written Scots and English dialects of the language. |
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CREY |
Deeds in the Perth archives show that from about 1570 to 1600 the spelling CREY was the predominant spelling. By chance the same spelling (or CREYE) was used much earlier in England by a knightly family in Kent in the Thirteenth Century. The latter was probably a different surname pronounced CRAY as it is associated with the places Pauls Cray and Foots Cray. (Source: Knights of Edward I.) |
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CRIE |
In Perthshire the CREY spelling gave way to CRIE in around 1600 (with an early occurrence in 1586) and this remained the predominant spelling in Scotland for the next hundred years or more. After about 1690 the spelling CREE started to replace it but some families held on to the CRIE spelling into the early nineteenth century. By 1800 most families had adoped the modern spelling CREE. Geographical isolation again played a part when the spelling CRIE was retained by the descendants of two brothers who migrated from Scotland to Maine, USA. As a result it survives in the USA - and nowhere else as far as we know - to this day. |
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CREE |
The spelling CREE is the almost universal spelling today. It has been in use in England since 1472 (Alumni Cantabrigiensis) and for the Bolsover, Derbyshire, line since its founding in 1678. In Scotland its first known occurrence was in 1657 (Erroll, Perthshire) although it did not become general there until the eighteenth century. Most American lines (the exception being the one in Maine) and all Australian and New Zealand lines have used the CREE spelling since their original migration to those countries. |
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CHREE |
The surname CHREE occurs in the isolated valley of Glenbuchat (formerly Glenbucket) in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. We now find that it has been traced back to the seventeenth Century, with earlier spellings of CHRUIE and CHRUY. This knocks on the head the theory that it originated from a migration of the Cree family from Angus in the eighteenth century. As far as we are aware now, it may or may not be related to the main CREE/CRIE surname. Any connection would be before the mid-1600s. We note that in Place Names of West Aberdeenshire (James Macdonald, F S A Scot., University of Aberdeen, 1900, p 126) a place name Corrachree occurs in the parish of Logie-Coldstone, just a few miles south of Glenbuchat. Macdonald interprets the place name to come fro the Gaelic Coire chraoibhe translated as corrie of the tree (or Coire chraoibh, corrie of the trees). Interestingly he quotes an early version of the placename as Correcreif in 1507 (quoting Register of the Great Seal of Scotland). We are not suggesting that the surname CHREE derives from this particular placename. But this reference does support our contention that CREE and CHREE are the expected results of anglicisation of Gaelic place name elements based on the Gaelic word chraoibh with meanings connected with trees and woods. |
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CREIGH |
This surname is found in early records in eastern Scotland. We know that CREIGH exists as a distinct surname today. But it may be that some CREIGHs became CREE and others stayed as CREIGH. It is possible that some occurrences of CREIGH are misspellings of CREE. |
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CRAY |
This occurs occasionally as a mis-spellng of our surname. For example my great-great-great-grandfather John Cree was married as CRAY in 1812 in Derbyshire. However CRAY is usually a separate surname with a separate pronunciation and distinct geographical location in Somerset. CRAY is also recorded in the Isle of Man in Manorial Rolls of 1511/15 (as both CRAY and CRAYE), where it appears to be a forerunner of the Manx surname CRY. |
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CRY |
This surname was common in the Isle of Man from 1600 to about 1800 when it seems to have changed to CRYE. It would appear to have derived from an earlier name Mc Cray(e). See below. |
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CRYE |
This name occurs today in the Isle of Man, with isolated examples in England and Ireland also. It appears to be a modern version of CRY. Whether this is a variant of CREE is uncertain. It would be interesting to know how it is pronounced. |
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CREAGH |
CREAGH is a well-known and numerous Irish surname. It is said to derive from County Cork and to have spread to County Clare in the 17th Century when Catholics were forcibly moved to that area. However it was probably well established in County Clare by that time and may have originated there. It is also said to derive from the Gaelic word craobh meaning a branch because the Creaghs were a branch of the O'Neills. It seems more likely that the CREAGH surname derives from a place name such as CREEGH (also called CREE), a village on the river of the same name in County Clare. It is likely that one CREE line is derived from CREAGH. (Source: The origin of Cree in County Clare.) |
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CREA |
This name occurs in small numbers in various areas of Britain and Ireland. It may be that it is sometimes a variant of CREE. In particular a CREA line in County Down, Ireland, appears to be descended from a CREE. Most occurrences elsewhere may be variants of the native Irish surname CREAGH. |
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MACKREE |
It seems to be rare almost everywhere that names with the prefix Mc or Mac lose that prefix. There is an isolated but, for us, important example in Derbyshire, where the son and daughter of an apparent Scotsman Alexander MACKREE (married in 1643) were called CREE. The son, James became the ancestor of the widespread Derbyshire CREE line. The one place where the dropping of Mc or Mac appears to have been normal is the Isle of Man. Here comparison of Manorial Rolls of 1511 with more recent records shows that the Mac prefix was dropped by most surnames. The names Mc CRAY, Mc CRAYE (a space was normally left after the Mc) are forerunners of the later surnames CRY and CRYE.
Other articles on the spelling of the surname CREE relate specifically to Scotland: |