Crix

This rare and interesting name of medieval English origin is locational from either of two places, Crich in Derbyshire or Crick in Northamptonshire. The earliest recording of "Crich" is in "the National Library in Wales" of 1009 and appears as "Cryc", and "Cruach", or "Cruz" in the Charter Rolls of 1229. "Creck", however, appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Crec", in the Curia Rolls of 1201 as "Kreic", and in the Valuation of Norwich of 1254 as "Creck". The derivation of "Crich" is from the British (pre Roman) "Cruc", a hill and of "Crick" either the above, or the Old Welsh "Creic", a rock. Crix is a dialectal variant of either of these names. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work best identified by the name of their birthplace. Amongst the few recordings of this variant is the marriage of Elisabeth Crix and Robert Tribe on May 12th, 1770 at St. Leonards, Shoreditch. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of James Crix, which was dated December 1st 1706, in St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London, during the reign of Queen Anne, known as "The Last Stuart Monarch", 1702 - 1714. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.