It is named after the British astronomer Andrew C. D. Crommelin who calculated its orbit in 1930.

It next comes to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) around May 27, 2039 when it will be near a maximum near-perihelion distance from Earth.

Johann Franz Encke attempted to calculate the orbit but was left with very large errors.

In 1872, John R. Hind produced a rough orbital calculation and observed it was close to that of Comet Biela, based on these observations, Edmund Weiss later speculated it may have been part of Biela's comet.

A third discovery was by Alexander F. I. Forbes (Cape Town, South Africa) on November 19, 1928, and confirmed by Harry E. Wood (Union Observatory, South Africa) on November 21.