The origins of crème brûlée are very much in contention, with the English, Spanish, and French all staking claim.The Spanish have taken credit for "crema catalana" since the eighteenth century, while the English claim it originated in seventeenth-century Britain, where it was known as "burnt cream" and apparently wasn't until the end of the nineteenth century that common usage of the French translation came into vogue as Creme Brulee.