Welcome to the Cranko Family Tree Website! Many hours of work have been put into the research and  documentation of our mutual ancestors. We hope you will enjoy and benefit from the information  presented here. If you have any information to correct entries or add to, please do not hesitate to  contact the webmaster and the tree will be updated. We have attempted to be as accurate as  possible based on various documents, research and personal knowledge. Apologies to any families if  some details seem incorrect. 
 Kranko, Krankoor and Cranko in South Africa are various names of what is Cranko today. This can be  seen from a number of baptisms in the early 1800's of persons Kranko (as well as census documents).  It was in the mid/later 1800's that Kranko was changed to Cranko. An early example with documentary  evidence is Frederik Jacob Wilhelm Kranko (Baptised 1848 - Deceased 1899), but later with various  children his name is shown as Frederick Jacob Willem Cranko and his headstone as Frederick JW  Cranko.

It is unknown at this point where the name Kranko/Cranko originated from and there has been much conjecture that it could be of Dutch or Polish origin.

Family Search.org cites the meaning of Kranko from the Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006 as the following:-

1 Ukrainian: from the personal name Franko, a vernacular form of Latin Franciscus ( see Francis ).
2 Polish, Czech and Slovak, and Slovenian: from a pet form of the Polish personal name Franciszek, or Czech and Slovak František, or Slovenian Francisšek, vernacular forms of Latin Franciscus ( see Francis ).
3 As a Slovenian surname it may also be a derivative of the personal name Frank ( see Frank 2), formed with the diminutive suffix -ko.

Other Cranko's researched are also included in this website but not necessarily directly connected  at this point to the progenitor Theunis Karel Kranko (Cranko). It is hoped that as research  continues and with feedback from you, these persons will eventually have a link to a particular  line.

Other families are also featured who are connected in one manner or another and it is hoped these  branches of the tree may grow as well.

After all we are all family of one huge, big tree.