Show ContentsScriber History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Scriber came to England with the ancestors of the Scriber family in the Norman Conquest in 1066. The surname Scriber is for a writer to the court. This name comes from the Old French word scriven, which was the title of the person employed to keep official records of trials.

Early Origins of the Scriber family

The surname Scriber was first found in Scriven, a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire. The township comprises about 1598 acres, and includes the villages of Scriven and Tentergate, which latter forms part of the town of Knaresborough. The place name was derived from The Domesday Book 1 entry Scrauing(h) which in turn was derived from the Old English expression "Hollow place with pits" 2

Early History of the Scriber family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Scriber research. Another 76 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1580, 1608, 1609, 1629, 1660, 1688 and 1713 are included under the topic Early Scriber History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Scriber Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Scriven, Scrivener, Scrivenor, Scrivner and others.

Early Notables of the Scriber family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Matthew Scrivener (1580-1609), an English colonist in Virginia, Colonial Governor of Virginia (1608-1609.) Born in Suffolk, England, he drowned at the age of 28 with eight other colonists, while attempting to cross to nearby Hog Island in a storm in 1609. His brother John Scrivener...
Another 53 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Scriber Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Scriber Ranking

In the United States, the name Scriber is the 15,355th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 3

Ireland Migration of the Scriber family to Ireland

Some of the Scriber family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Scriber family

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Scriber name or one of its variants: Arthur Scriven settled in Virginia in 1663; John Scriven settled in Barbados in 1665; Nathanial Scriven settled in Nevis in 1663; Robert Scriven settled in Virginia in 1635.


Contemporary Notables of the name Scriber (post 1700) +

  • Adelbert Marvin Scriber (1865-1948), American Democratic Party politician, Newspaper publisher; Presidential Elector for New York, 1936; Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1944 4


  1. Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
  2. Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
  3. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  4. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 14) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


Houseofnames.com on Facebook