Frequency: (1125)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English (chiefly Lancashire): from Middle English cranke ‘lively’, ‘lusty’, ‘vigorous’, hence a nickname for a cheerful, boisterous, or cocky person.
2. English: nickname from cranuc, a diminutive of Middle English cran ‘crane’ (see Crane).
3. Possibly an Americanized spelling of German Kranke, from Low German Kraneke ‘crane’, applied to someone thought to resemble the bird in some way, or a nickname for a poor physical specimen, from Middle High German kranc ‘sickly’, ‘ailing’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
