Surnames began to be used in Scotland around the 12th century when it gradually became necessary to distinguish ordinary people one from the other by more than just the given name. In some Highland areas surnames did not become the norm until the 18th century, and in parts of the Northern Isles until the 19th century.

Cruickshanks belongs to The Clan Stewart of Atholl who are directly descended from one of the most notorious Stewarts of the fourteenth century, Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, more commonly known as 'The Wolf of Badenoch'. The "Cruickshanks" surname today consists of three main variations, CRUICKSHANK(S), CRUIKSHANK(S) AND CROOKSHANK(S), and any reference to Cruickshanks on this web site automatically implies all three versions and any other versions of the surname. I only use Cruickshanks as a reference because that is my surname.

You may find that early spellings vary from later ones due to differences in the language usage and spelling of the day. Add to that transcription errors by the person recording the records who might record the name incorrectly, or simply write it down as they heard it. If the informant was also illiterate, then these mistakes stood unchallenged and uncorrected.

I have instances in my own family tree of spelling changes due to record keeping, one of which is an ancestor who emigrated to Canada in the 1800's. In the Scottish records the surname is recorded as CRUICKSHANK, but as soon as the family arrived in Canada it changed to CRUIKSHANK, and remained with the revised spelling to this day. This is just a small change (dropping the 'c'), but there are many much more pronounced ones.

Here is a list of variants on the name from "The most complete list of Scottish surnames and surname variant spellings, compiled from the works of Black, Paton, Grant, Watson, Smith and others" by © ScotsFind, LLC 

CRUICKSHANK, CRUICKSHANKS, CRUIKSHAND, CROOKSHANKS, CRUIKSETTER, CROKESHANKS, CRUKSCHANK, CRUKSANK, CRUKSHANK, CRUXSHANKE, CRUSHANK, CRUCKSHANK, CRUIKSHANK, KRIEGSCHANK, COUKSCHANK, CREWSCHANK, CROKESHANK, CREWKSCHANKIS, CROOKSHANK, CRUCKSHANKE, CRUCSHANK, CRUIKANK, CRUIKSANK, CRUKESCHANK, CRUCKSHANKE, CRUKSHAINK, CRUYKSCHANK, CRWICKSHANKS, CRWIKSCHANK, CRWKSCHANK, CROIKSHANK, CROKCHAK, CROCHANK, CROKSHANK, CROOKCHANKS, CROOKSHANKS, CROSCHANK, CROUKSHANKES, CRUKSCHANK, KROKSHANK, KLUCKSHANKS, KRUKCHANK, KRWCHSHANKS, KROKCHANK

You will see on the other CRUICKSHANKS "NAME" pages the vast variety of different spellings over the years. This can create a lot of difficulty searching for ancestors when the name may have been changed quite drastically. A lot of times I have found ancestors by accident based upon their middle names. The fact that middle names were family surnames can be immensely useful in identifying family members as well as providing clues to other family branches.