Clan Crawford
also Clan Crawford, Craufurd, Crauford
The ford of the crows, an upper-Clydesdale name.
- Origin
- Glasgow & Strathclyde, Scotland
- Motto
- Tutum te robore reddam
- Famous bearer
- The Lindsay Earls of Crawford, premier earls of Scotland
- Register
- Scottish clan
CoreHistoric reach
The seat of Clan Crawford
Seat vacantChief
No one leads the Clan Crawford community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.
Current mission
No shared goal set yet. Once Clan Crawford has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.
The Crawford clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.
Help rebuild the Crawford clan →Motto
Tutum te robore reddam
“I will make you safe by strength”
What does the Crawford name mean?
Territorial, from the barony of Crawford in upper Clydesdale in Lanarkshire, from Old English crawe, 'crow', and ford, the 'ford of the crows' on the upper Clyde. A Lowland Scots family seated there from the twelfth century, the Crawfords held the barony before the Lindsays, who carried the place-name into the premier earldom of Scotland, the Earldom of Crawford, created in 1398.
The history of Clan Crawford
The Crawfords of that Ilk held the Clydesdale barony from the reign of David I, and the name fanned out across Ayrshire and Renfrewshire in cadet lines. Sir Reginald Crawford was Sheriff of Ayr around 1296, and the family was bound by blood to William Wallace, whose mother is traditionally held to have been a Crawford of Loudoun. The Lindsay Earls of Crawford, who took their title from the barony, became one of the great comital houses of late-medieval Scotland.
The name travelled widely with the Scots diaspora. The American supermodel Cindy Crawford (b. 1966) is its most globally recognised modern bearer; the actor Broderick Crawford (1911–1986) won the Best Actor Oscar for All the King's Men and headlined the television series Highway Patrol. In Scotland itself the Earldom of Crawford remains the premier earldom on the Union roll.
Historic Places, Rebuilt
Explore the streets and seats the Crawford name knew, rebuilt with AI as they stood in history.
Castles the Crawford held
Strongholds this name held for a decade or more, look one up, or rebuild it to explore.
- Almond Castle
The estate belonged to the Crawfords, who built the castle in about 1470 and held it until about 1540.
Castles that share the Crawford name
The same name on the map, look one up, see what it looked like in its prime, and recreate it to explore.
All castles in Scotland → · Strongest castles in Scotland → · Castles of Europe
Play As Your Clan
Pick any year from 500 to 1945 and any place on earth, the Crawford country, or a shore no Crawford ever reached. The chronicler sets the scene; the deeds are yours.
Notable bearers of the Crawford name
- The Lindsay Earls of Crawford, premier earls of Scotland
- Cindy Crawford (b. 1966), American model
- Broderick Crawford (1911–1986), American actor