Find out how popular the last name Crenshaw is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Crenshaw.

Crenshaw, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Crenshaw surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Crenshaw in America

Crenshaw is the 1995th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Crenshaw surname appeared 18,096 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Crenshaw.

We can also compare 2010 data for Crenshaw to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Crenshaw

The surname CRENSHAW is of English origin, deriving from the Old English words "crene" meaning "crane" and "sceaga" meaning "grove" or "small wood". It is thought to have originated as a place name, likely referring to a location where cranes were known to gather or nest in a wooded area.

The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 13th century, with variations in spelling such as Crenshawe, Crenshaw, and Crenshewe appearing in various historical records and documents. One of the earliest known references is found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which mentions a John de Creneshaw residing in Staffordshire.

During the Medieval period, the CRENSHAW name was primarily concentrated in the counties of Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire in northwest England. It is believed that the name may have originated as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a crane-inhabited grove or woodland area in one of these regions.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the CRENSHAW name began to appear more frequently in parish records and historical documents. One notable individual from this time was Richard Crenshaw, born in 1580 in Cheshire, who was a prominent landowner and magistrate.

As the CRENSHAW family spread across England, some branches of the family adopted variations of the name, such as Crenshawe and Cranshawe. One notable figure was Sir Ranulph Crenshawe (1608-1649), a Royalist commander during the English Civil War who fought for King Charles I.

In the late 17th century, several members of the CRENSHAW family immigrated to the American colonies, with some settling in Virginia and Maryland. One of the earliest recorded CRENSHAWs in America was Thomas Crenshaw, born in 1665 in Cheshire, England, who established a plantation in Henrico County, Virginia.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the CRENSHAW name continued to be prominent in various parts of the United States, with individuals such as Amos Crenshaw (1752-1828), a Revolutionary War soldier from Virginia, and Anderson Crenshaw (1784-1847), a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee.

Other notable individuals with the CRENSHAW surname include Ben Crenshaw (born 1952), an American professional golfer and two-time Masters champion, and Lucille Crenshaw (1862-1918), an African American educator and activist who founded the Crenshaw Community Center in Los Angeles, California.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Crenshaw

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Crenshaw.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Crenshaw was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Crenshaw has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Crenshaw was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Crenshaw, please contact us.

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