The name Shaw is derived from the Old English word "sceaga", meaning "wood". The name Crompton is also of Old English derivation, from the words "crom" or "crumb", meaning "bent" or "crooked" and "ton", for "hamlet or village". A local historian stated that "this name aptly describes the appearance of the place, with its uneven surface, its numerous mounds and hills, as though it had been crumpled up to form these ridges". The University of Nottingham's Institute for Name-Studies has offered the suggestion that the name Crompton means "river-bend settlement", which may reflect Crompton's location on a meander of the River Beal.