Creek

Recorded in the spellings of Creche, Creech and Creek, this interesting surname is of British, that is pre-Roman, origin. It is a topographical or a locational name, and means either "one who lives at the barrow", or "by the hill". The derivation is from the British (Celtic) and Old Welsh word "cruc", in Modern Welsh "crug", meaning variously "heap, barrow, hill", especially a round hill or hillock. The places called "Creech" in the county of Dorset and "Creech St. Michael" in Somerset are the sources for the modern locational surname. The former is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as "Criz" and "Cric" and the latter as "Crice", both probably meaning "the hill". There are a number of rare variants of the surname and these include Cridge,Crudge,Critch, and Crutch. Early examples of the surname recording taken from authentic rolls and registers of medieval and post medieval times include Peter de Cryche of Somerset in 1273, Robert de Criche of Nottingham in the same year, and Robert Creche, being given as 'living by a creek' in Suffolk in 1327. Throughout the centuries surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.