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

Crippen, 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 Crippen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Crippen in America

Crippen is the 9956th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Crippen surname appeared 3,242 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Crippen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Crippen 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 Crippen

The surname Crippen is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "crippen," which means "to creep or crawl." It is believed to have originally been an occupational name for someone who worked as a hunter or tracker, as these individuals would have had to creep or crawl through the woods to capture their prey.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Crippen can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror. In this historical document, the name appears in various spellings, such as "Crippin" and "Cripyn."

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was John Crippen, who was born in Oxfordshire, England, in the late 13th century. He was a landowner and is mentioned in several historical records from that time period.

During the 16th century, the name Crippen was particularly prevalent in the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and Somerset. One notable individual from this era was William Crippen, born in 1542 in Gloucestershire, who was a respected merchant and alderman in the city of Bristol.

In the 17th century, the Crippen family had established a presence in the American colonies. One of the earliest immigrants with this surname was Thomas Crippen, who arrived in Virginia in 1635 and later became a prominent landowner and farmer in the region.

Another famous bearer of the Crippen name was Hawley Harvey Crippen, born in 1862 in Coldwater, Michigan. He was a homeopathic doctor who gained notoriety for the sensational murder of his wife, Cora, in 1910. Crippen's case was one of the earliest instances of utilizing wireless communication to aid in the apprehension of a criminal suspect.

In the 20th century, one of the most notable individuals with the surname Crippen was Norman Crippen, born in 1892 in Buckinghamshire, England. He was a celebrated artist and illustrator, known for his work in the field of book illustration and his collaborations with prominent authors of the time.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Crippen

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

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 Crippen 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 Crippen 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 Crippen was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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