The name has the same root as craig or graig in Wales and Carrick (An Charraig) in Ireland, meaning "rock", but possibly refers to the Bronze Age round barrow just west of the village, measuring 31.7m in diameter and the only known bell barrow in Wales.

[1] The site of Crick was an important junction on the Roman road sometimes known as the Via Julia which ran from Bath (Aquae Sulis) across the Severn estuary to Sudbrook and on to Caerwent (Venta Silurum) and Caerleon (Isca Augusta), now in Wales.

[1] There was a chapel - variously referred to as St. Nuvien, Nyfain or Nyvein after the early Monmouthshire saint mentioned in the Book of Llan Dav[4] - which was converted into a barn in the old manor house of Crick.

On the Monmouthshire County Council depot site are the remains of a moated platform, believed to be of the 13th-century manor house of William Derneford, lord of Crick.

[1] In July 1645, during the English Civil War, a mediaeval hall at Crick was the site of a key meeting between King Charles, who had been recently defeated at Langport in Somerset, and his nephew and ally Prince Rupert of the Rhine.