Crocker last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Crocker

An occupational surname referring to a potter who made pottery from clay.

Crocker, 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 Crocker surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Crocker in America

Crocker is the 1757th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Crocker surname appeared 20,370 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Crocker.

We can also compare 2010 data for Crocker 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 1757 1635 7.19%
Count 20,370 20,047 1.60%
Proportion per 100k 6.91 7.43 -7.25%

The history of the last name Crocker

The surname Crocker originated in England and is believed to have derived from the Old English word "crocor," which referred to a potter or maker of earthenware vessels. It is thought to have emerged as an occupational name during the Anglo-Saxon period, possibly as early as the 8th or 9th century.

Records indicate that the name was present in various parts of England, including Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Worcestershire. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Crochere" and "Crocherman."

In the 13th century, the name was often spelled as "Crockere" or "Crokker," reflecting the regional variations in pronunciation and spelling at the time. Some early examples include Walter le Crockere, mentioned in the Feet of Fines for Essex in 1285, and John Crokker, recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Buckinghamshire in 1273.

The surname Crocker has been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the earliest was Sir John Crokker, a prominent lawyer and judge who lived in the late 14th century and served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1387 to 1392. Another notable bearer of the name was Walter Crokker, who was the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1335 to 1349.

In the 16th century, the name was sometimes linked to place names, such as Crocker's Moor in Somerset and Crocker's Green in Shropshire. This suggests that some Crockers may have derived their surname from the names of these localities.

One of the most famous individuals with the surname Crocker was Henry Crocker (1778-1848), an American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Crocker Bank in San Francisco and played a significant role in the development of California's economy in the early 19th century.

Other notable Crockers include Samuel Crocker (1630-1685), an early settler of Cape Cod and one of the founders of Barnstable, Massachusetts; Charles Crocker (1822-1888), an American businessman and one of the "Big Four" investors who financed the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad; and William Crocker (1761-1854), an American Revolutionary War soldier and one of the founders of Belchertown, Massachusetts.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Crocker

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

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 Crocker was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 87.26% 17,775
Non-Hispanic Black Only 8.24% 1,678
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.39% 79
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.62% 126
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.42% 289
Hispanic Origin 2.07% 422

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 Crocker has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 87.26% 88.56% -1.48%
Black 8.24% 7.93% 3.83%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.39% 0.42% -7.41%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.62% 0.62% 0.00%
Two or More Races 1.42% 1.13% 22.75%
Hispanic 2.07% 1.33% 43.53%

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

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

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"Crocker last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 2, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/crocker-surname-popularity/.

"Crocker last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/crocker-surname-popularity/. Accessed 2 December, 2024

Crocker last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/crocker-surname-popularity/.

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