aCheevers: The Name 'Cheevers'
This very interesting name(!) is of Old French origin, and derives from the Old
French "chievre", Anglo-Norman French "chivere, chevre", she-goat, from
the Latin "capra", used either as an occupational name or a nickname. (Personally, my common sense tells me we were originally goat-herders, but I could be wrong!)
The term was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066,
and the surname from this source is distinguished by being first
recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name may be a metonymic
occupational name for a goat-herd (told ya!), or a nickname for someone considered
to be particularly stubborn, or who was possessed of goat-like agility.
Many early surnames were gradually created from the habitual use of
nicknames, often given in the first instance with reference to some
supposed resemblance to an animal's or bird's appearance or disposition.
Early examples of the surname, all showing "u" for "v", include:
Hamelin Chieure (1186, Lincolnshire), and Nicholas le Chiuer (1327,
Sussex). The modern surnames Cheevers, Chevers and Chivers are the
patronymic forms. Among the recordings of the name in London is the
marriage of Thomas Chivers and Rose Taylor at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, on
September 17th 1635. A very early Coat of Arms granted to a Chivers
family is a chevron engrailed, red, on a white shield.
The first
recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William
Cheure, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Devonshire, during
the reign of William 1, known as "William the Conqueror, 1066 - 1087.
Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation.
In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries,
surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to
astonishing variants of the original spelling.