Bill Cribbs wrote..... >>I've been trying to find the history and origins of the CRIBBS family in the UK. I think they are Scottish but have not found proof. Any info, Roy?>> I HAVE consulted one of the definitive books of surnames - A Dictionary of English Surnames by P H Reaney & R M Wilson - and it does not suggest a Scottish origin for the name CRIBBS (the title of the book is a bit misleading, BTW, it should be "British Surnames"). Here is what it says..... CRIBB, CRIBBES: Hugo Osbert Cribbe 1195, 1200 P (So). OE 'crib(b), originally a barred receptacle for fodder in cow sheds (used of the manger of Christ c1000), a stall or cabin of an ox, cattle-fold. The surname is metonymic for a cow-man." P (So) = Pipe Rolls for Somerset. OE = Old English Given that cowmen were widespread all over Britain in medieval times, I would imagine there would be multiple derivations of the name in many places, but the first recorded mention would appear to be in Somerset, which as you probably know is a county in the South-West of England - a long way from Scotland! A good way to establish some kind of possibilities as to where they came from is to look at the IGI on FamilySearch and see if you can spot any patterns, i.e. a concentration of the name in certain areas. Roy Stockdill Editor, The Journal of One-Name Studies The Stockdill Family History Society (Guild of One-Name Studies, FedFHS) STOCKDILL PREST YELLOW BOLTON WORSNOP GIBSON MIDGLEY BRACEWELL SHACKLETON BRADLEY MOODY in Yorkshire North & West Ridings MEAD YOUNG in Somerset, Wiltshire & Gloucestershire Web page of the Stockdill Family History Society:- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roystock ”Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you. If he does not, why humiliate him?" - Canon Sydney Smith (scholar and humorist 1771-1845)