The surname Crawford originates from a locative name,[1] possibly derived from a place name composed of the Old English elements crāwe, Scots Craw ("crow") and ford ("ford").
[7] The surname Crawford corresponds to the Scottish Gaelic MacCreamhain,[8] and the Irish de Cráfort and Mac Crábhagáin.
[12] As a surname, Crawford is the 289th most common name in Great Britain, with 30,292 bearers.
Other concentrations include Belfast (25th, 3,328), Greater Manchester (58th, 3,378), Lancashire (327th, 1,852), West Midlands (341st, 1,796) and Essex (374th, 1,722), and Yorkshire.
[citation needed] The countries with the highest percentages of Crawford families are Canada, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.