Cramphorn Family History

From a compound of Middle English crampe crompe crumpe (Old French crampe Old English crump) ‘curved’ + horn ‘horn’. It may refer to a kind of hornpipe. The word is formally equivalent to Middle High German krumphorn krummhorn, a popular double-reeded pipe like the chanter of a bagpipe with a curved horn at the lower end.

The German word is on record since the late 15th century but the instrument it denotes is probably much older. The surname is the only evidence for the word in medieval England and may originally have been bestowed on a town wait or minstrel.

Compare J. Hornpipe 1439 in Ewen History p. 324 (Northumb).