Jew History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The name Jew came to England with the ancestors of the Jew family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Jew family lived in Somerset. The family was originally from the area of Cheux, near Carne, Normandy. Alternatively, the name could have been from Eu in Normandy, commonly called la Ville d'Eu. 1

Early Origins of the Jew family

The surname Jew was first found in Somerset, at Chew Magna, a parish, and anciently a borough and market-town, in the union of Clutton, hundred of Chew or at Chew-Stoke, a parish, in the union of Clutton, hundred of Chew. 2

Chew Magna dates back to 1065, when it was known as Ciw and later in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chiwe. It is named after the River Chew, which is a Celtic river name, with the affix from the Latin "magna" meaning "great." 3

Chew Stoke recorded in the Domesday Book as Stoche, means "secondary settlement belonging to Chew. 3

Randal de Chiw, was the first record of the family found listed in the Assize Rolls of Somerset in 1201. A couple of years later, Geoffrey Chiue was listed in the Curia Regis Rolls for Cambridgeshire in 1203. 4

"The name of Chew has its present home in the Oundle district [of Northamptonshire]. The Chews of Dunstable, in the neighbouring county of Bedfordshire, were a notable family in the 17th century; some of them, who attained high position as London merchants, preferred to be buried in the town of their birth. One of the family was sheriff of Bedfordshire." 5

"It has ramified strongly in America. John Chew settled in Virginia as early as 1634 (see Hotten's Lists of Emigrants.) " 6

Early History of the Jew family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Jew research. Another 155 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1623, 1744, 1766, 1790, 1798, 1810 and 1878 are included under the topic Early Jew History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Jew Spelling Variations

Multitudes of spelling variations are a hallmark of Anglo Norman names. Most of these names evolved in the 11th and 12th century, in the time after the Normans introduced their own Norman French language into a country where Old and Middle English had no spelling rules and the languages of the court were French and Latin. To make matters worse, medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, so names frequently appeared differently in the various documents in which they were recorded. The name was spelled Chew, Chewe, Chewning, Chue and others.

Early Notables of the Jew family

Another 46 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Jew Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Jew migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Jew Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. Thomas Jew, English convict who was convicted in Worcestershire, England for 14 years, transported aboard the "Florentia" on 11th August 1830, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 7

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 11th October 2022). https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/florentia