> I am currently researching the CRANE family who - 500 years after > the Norman Conquest when they came to England were found mostly settled in > Suffolk, with one group living at Crane Hall in Ipswich.> > > John - Sunny Suffolk> Absolutely no disrespect intended, believe me, but I often wish I had a fiver for every time I see a message claiming someone's ancestors came over with William the Conqueror or at the time of the Norman Conquest! All my surname dictionaries give CRANE as an English name, a nickname from the bird and probably bestowed upon a long-legged person. Reaney & Wilson say the earliest recorded reference was for an Osbert Crane in the Pipe Rolls for Cambridgeshire in 1177, well over a century after the Norman Conquest, so I'd be interested to know how you have traced it back to the Conquest? If it came from one of those Internet websites that give potted explanations of surnames and want to sell you a mug or tea towel with your alleged coat of arms on it - genealogy bucket shops, I call them - then those charlatans will tell you virtually EVERY name came to England with the Normans! -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE