Hello, my name is Alison and I am a member of the Cressey family from Dorset/Somerset in England. I have been interested in my surname since about the age of 15 when a teacher said that I may be the descendant of a man that fought at the Battle of Crecy in France in 1346. I discovered the Guild of One-Name Studies at a Roots Tech conference in London and realised that this was my chance to find out more about those with this surname and potentially discover its origin. I have only just started, becoming a member in April 2022 so you'll have to bear with me. I have now started to take the Pharos course 'Introduction to One-Name Studies' and will hopefully have a clearer idea of how to proceed with my study.

Variants: CRESSY

Other spellings I have come across in my research are: CREASEY, Creassey.

Other spellings: Crecy, Cressi, Crease, Cresey

I am beginning to think that my way of spelling the surname is the variant!

The origin of the name is currently unknown by me, but there are several possibilities: the placename Crecy in Picardy, France or a patch of stony ground from the Olde Provencal "cres" or "gres" (Guppy, 1890). The transcripts of the Charters relating to the Gilbertine Houses record a Alexander de Crecy ~1182 and in 1185 the same name is listed in Lancashire in the Records of the Knight Templars in England.

Another source (https://www.houseofnames.com/uk/cressey-family-crest) states other possibilities, such as:

• that this was a name brought by the Normans when they conquered England in 1066. A Hugh de Cressy and Simon from Crecy, Normandy in 1180 - 1195 who resided in Northumberland, and the name was "from the Lordship so named, near Dieppe and Rouen";
• Anselm and Gilbert de Cressy ~1119 held lands in England from the Earls of Warrenne;
• Hugh de Cresseio, Huntingdonshire, 1130, the son of Guy le Roux, Lord of Creci in La Brie, Senschal of Franc.
• The surname was first found in Norfolk at Beeston Regis, belonging to Lady Isabel de Cressey who founded a church and Hugh de Cressy, who died in 1189, was an Anglo-Norman administrator and nobleman.

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, Vol. 1, OUP 2016.

Creasey 

Variants: Cressey, Cressy, Crecy, Creecy, Creasy 

• Current frequencies: GB 2078, Ireland 19
• GB frequency in 1881: 1183
• Main GB location in 1881: Lincs

Norman, English: locative name of Norman origin, from Cressy in Seine-Maritime. 

Early bearers:

• Adam de Creissi, 1166 in Domesday Descendants;
• Hugo de Creissi, 1171 in Pipe Rolls (Lancs);
• Alexander de Crecy, de Cressi, about 1182 in Gilbertine Charters, 1185 in Templars Records (Lincs);
• Beatrix Cressy, 1216–72 in Gilbertine Charters (Lincs);
• Wyllm Cressey, 1575 in IGI (Horsington, Lincs);
• Philipp Creasye, 1577 in IGI (Swineshead, Lincs). 

Creasy 

.• Current frequencies: GB 458, Ireland 1 

• GB frequency 1881: 594
• Main GB location 1881: Suffolk; Surrey, Middx, and Kent

Norman, English: see Creasey. 

The Battle of Crecy was fought on 26 August 1346 near Crey in Northern France. An important English victory over the French army led by Philip VI of France.

HMS Cressy (named after the Battle of Crecy), an armoured cruiser built for Royal Navy ~1900 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cressy_(1899)). It was sunk on 22 September 1914 by a U-9 submarine, along with her sister ships Hogue and Aboukir. Some of the men were rescued by several Dutch ships but 560 ratings lost their lives on Cressy.

I have also found a Cressey coat of arms, but this needs to be confirmed.

Contemporary Notables of the name Cressey (post 1700)

• Ingemar Cressey (b. 1980), South African semi professional surfer 

• Roger W. Cressey (b. 1965), American former member of the United States National Security Council staff 

• Donald R. Cressey (1919-1987), American penologist, sociologist, and criminologist from Fergus Falls, Minnesota 
• George Babcock Cressey (1896-1963), American geographer, author, and academic from Tiffin, Ohio 

Table 1. Distribution of the surname Cressey (exact) in 1841 and 1881 Censuses

1841 census notes: there were no occurrences of the name in Wales.The top profession was female servant (10), independent (8), ag lab (6). Most popular first name was William (221), followed closely by John (201) and Mary (200).

1881 census notes: there were no occurrences of the name in Wales. The top profession was a census frequency of 57 scholars (so the children of the family), and agricultural labourers (25). Most  popular first names were William, John and Mary as in 1841.

I think it is obvious from the data in the table that the surname was from Yorkshire, with a branch in London. There are more families in the north of England, the east and the south east, than the south west.

It is interesting that the surname occurrence in Lincolnshire increases by an order of magnitude between 1841 and 1881. This may be related to the opportunity for work in Lincolnshire and a move away from Yorkshire for some, and families having more children.

Table 2. Results for occurrence of surname Cressey (exact spelling) from various online sources from Censuses 1841 - 1939

It is interesting that FMP have such low numbers for the surname and that there is such variation between the sources. Family Search seems to have more occurrences of the name than the other sites, and that The Genealogist and Family have higher numbers than Ancestry.

In the United States the name is ranked 15,548 with ~2,500 with the name.

Cressey Settlers in United States in the 17th Century: Thomas Cressey, who landed in Maryland in 1679.

Cressey Settlers in United States in the 18th Century: William Cressey, who arrived in Virginia in 1702. 

New Zealand settlers in the 19th Century 

• George Cressey, aged 40, a plasterer, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Collingwood" in 1875 

• Margaret Cressey, aged 41, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Collingwood" in 1875