Contents [hide]

Hervey History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Ireland United States Canada New Zealand

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Hervey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Hervey is a name of ancient Norman origin. It arrived in England with the Norman Conquest of 1066. Hervey is a name that comes from the Breton personal name Aeruiu or Haerviu. It is composed of the elements haer, which means battle or carnage, and vy, which means worthy. The name was commonly introduced to England in its Gallic form Hervé.1

"This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Harvey.' This great personal name had not become so rare in the 12th and 13th centuries that it could escape surnominal honours. On the contrary, it is still found as a fairly familiar personal name up to the beginning of the 14th century. " 2

Hervey or Hervaeus (d. 1131), was "bishop successively of Bangor and Ely, of Breton race, was a royal clerk, high in favour with William Rufus and confessor to Henry I. " 3

Early Origins of the Hervey family

The surname Hervey was first found in the Domesday Book of 1086 where the Latin form of the name, Herveus, was first used. Herueu de berruarius was also listed in Suffolk at that time. 4

Herueide Caster was recorded in Lincolnshire 1157-1163. Later in Suffolk, Willelmus filius Hervici was listed in the Feet of Fines of 1242 and William Hervi, Herevi was listed in the Curia Regis Rolls of 1196. William Hervy was found in the Feet of Fines for Essex in 1232 and later, Richard Herfu was found in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1327. 1

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 listed early spellings of the name as both a personal name and a surname: Harvey Dunnyng and Warin Hervi in Cambridgeshire; Robert filius Hervei in Lincolnshire; and Herveus le Gos, in Lincolnshire. 2

"As a family designation it appears in England in the XII. cent. Osbert de Hervey is styled, in the register of St. Edmundsbury, the son of Hervey. From him according to the Peerage sprang the Herveys, ennobled in England and Ireland, and also (in all probability, from the resemblance of their arms) the De Hervi's and Hervies of Aberdeenshire and other parts of Scotland." 5

Distribution of the surname throughout Britain is most interesting. "Well distributed over England south of a line drawn from Hull to Chester. North of that line its frequency abruptly ceases. It is best represented in Essex, Hants, and Kent, and then in Corwall, Devon, Staffordshire, Notts, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Its preference for the coast counties, especially those in the south - east of England from Kent to Norfolk, is to be remarked." 6

Early History of the Hervey family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hervey research. Another 155 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1200, 1540, 1578, 1586, 1601, 1611, 1616, 1624, 1629, 1642, 1657, 1660, 1661, 1673, 1679, 1680 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Hervey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hervey 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 Harvey, Hervey, Hervie, Harvie and others.

Early Notables of the Hervey family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

Sir William Hervey (1586-1660), an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1624 and 1629
Edmund Harvey or Hervey (c.1601-1673), an English soldier and member of Parliament during the English Civil War, who sat as a commissioner at the Trial of King Charles I and helped to draw up the fina...
William Hervey, 1st Baron Hervey (died 1642), an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1611
John Hervey (1616-1680), an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1679, he fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War

Hervey Ranking

In the United States, the name Hervey is the 12,411^st most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 7

Migration of the Hervey family to Ireland

Some of the Hervey family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 107 words (8 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hervey migration to the United States +

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 Hervey name or one of its variants:

Hervey Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Nicholas Hervey, who arrived in Maryland in 1633 8
Nicholas Hervey, who settled in Maryland in 1634
Frances Hervey, who landed in Maryland in 1641 8

Hervey Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

George Hervey, who arrived in Charleston, South Carolina in 1770 8
Martha Hervey, who settled in Pennsylvania in 1772

Hervey Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

James Hervey, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1853 8

Hervey migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Hervey Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

John Hervey, who settled in Chapples Cove, Newfoundland in 1681 9

Hervey Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Mr. John Hervey U.E. who settled in Charlotte County, New Brunswick c. 1784 member of the Port Matoon Association 10
Mr. Philip Hervey U.E. who settled in Home District [York County], Ontario c. 1784 10

Hervey migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Hervey Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

John Hervey, who landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1840 aboard the ship Martha Ridgway
Peter Morrison Hervey, who landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1840
Thomas Hervey, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Ashburton" in 1857
Mrs. Hervey, Scottish settler travelling from Glasgow aboard the ship "Margaret Galbraith" arriving in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, Otago, South Island, New Zealand on 30th January 1873 11
Mr. Hervey, Scottish settler travelling from Glasgow aboard the ship "Margaret Galbraith" arriving in Port Chalmers, Dunedin, Otago, South Island, New Zealand on 30th January 1873 11

Contemporary Notables of the name Hervey (post 1700) +

Augustus John Hervey (1724-1779), 3rd Earl of Bristol, English admiral and politician, second son of John, Lord Hervey of Ickworth, and grandson of John, first earl of Bristol, eponym of Hervey Bay, Australia
Brigadier-General Harcourt Hervey (1892-1970), American Commanding Officer 65th Field Artillery Brigade (1941-1942) 12
Jean Hervey, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Arkansas, 1996, 2000 13
Jean Hervey, American politician, Candidate for U.S. Representative from New York 28th District, 1966 13
James Hervey, American politician, Member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Brooke County, 1868-71 13
J. M. Hervey, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from New Mexico, 1936 13
Honey M. Hervey, American politician, Candidate in primary for Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, 2001 13
Henry C. Hervey, American politician, Member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Brooke County, 1897, 1901 13
Fred Hervey (1909-1999), American Democratic Party politician, Mayor of El Paso, Texas, 1951-55, 1973-75; Candidate for Presidential Elector for Texas, 1956 13
Deliverance B. Hervey, American politician, Member of New York State Assembly from Greene County, 1845 13
... (Another 9 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0
Rubincam, Milton. The Old United Empire Loyalists List. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1976. (Originally published as; United Empire Loyalists. The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada. Rose Publishing Company, 1885.) ISBN 0-8063-0331-X
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 17th October 2018). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
Generals of World War II. (Retrieved 2012, March 12) Harcourt Hervey. Retrieved from http://generals.dk/general/Hervey/Harcourt/USA.html
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 6) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html