This interesting name has two possible origins. The first being a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of hooks, deriving from the medieval English "crome" or "cromb", itself coming from the Olde English pre 7th century "crumb" meaning "bent", or "crooked". It is also possible that "crome" was given as a surname\nickname to a bent or stooping person. The surname is first recorded at the end of the 12th Century, (see below). One, John Croume and a Maud le Crombe appear in the 1275 Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire. A second distinct possibility is that the name is of locational origin either from Croom in East Yorkshire, (so called from the Olde English "crohum" a narrow valley), or from Croome in Worcestershire, (from the Welsh "crwm" crooked, referring to an old river). One, Simon de (of) Crombe is recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Worcestershire, dated 1275. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert le Crumbe. which was dated 1199, in the Assize Court Rolls of Staffordshire. during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.