Family name origins & meanings
- English (Kent) : habitational name from Crittenden in Kent, which is named with the Old English personal name Gū{dh}here + Old English -ing- denoting association with + Old English denn ‘woodland pasture’.
- The statesman John Jordan Crittenden, who was born near Versailles, KY, in 1787, was of Welsh descent on his father’s side. His immigrant ancestor arrived in VA before 1650. His father, a major in the American Revolution, moved from VA to KY and settled in Woodford Co.