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The Jeffer surname is a patronymic name that comes from the personal names Geoffrey and Godfrey. These names appear in Old English as Geffrey and in Old French as Jefroi or Jeufroi. The surname Jeffer makes use of the patronymic suffix -son, which had superseded all other such suffixes in popularity by the 14th century, and was most common in the north of Britain. This suffix was sometimes abbreviated to -s.
The surname Jeffer was first found in Staffordshire where Robert Geffreysone was listed in the Assize Rolls for 1344. In Yorkshire, we found Alice Geffrason there in 1488 and John Jeffrason was listed as a Freeman of York in 1528. 1
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Jeffer research. Another 118 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1691, 1720, 1797 and 1821 are included under the topic Early Jeffer History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
There are relatively few surnames native to Wales, but they have an inordinately large number of spelling variations. Early variations of Welsh surnames can be explained by the fact that very few people in the early Middle Ages were literate. Priests and the few other literate people were responsible for recording names in official documents. And because most people could not specific how to properly record their names it was up to the individual recorder of that time to determine how a spoken name should be recorded. Variations due to the imprecise or improper recording of a name continued later in history when names originally composed in the Brythonic Celtic, language of Wales, known by natives as Cymraeg, were transliterated into English. Welsh names that were documented in English often changed dramatically since the native language of Wales, which was highly inflected, did not copy well. Occasionally, however, spelling variations were carried out according to an individual's specific design: a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations could be indicated by minor variations. The spelling variations of the name Jeffer have included Jeffers, Jefferson, Jeffson, Jephson and others.
Prominent amongst the family during the late Middle Ages was
Another 53 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
North America in the 1800s and 1900s saw the arrival of many Welsh people hoping to share in the wealth of land, work, and freedom that they felt North America held. Those who made the journey often attained those expectations, but only through an enormous amount of hard work, perseverance, and often a bout of good luck. These immigrants helped contribute to the growth of industry, commerce, and culture of both Canada and the United States. Discovered in the immigration and passenger lists were a number of people bearing the name Jeffer: John Jefferson settled in Virginia in 1620; Mary Jefferson settled in Virginia in 1653; Edmund Jefferson settled in Pennsylvania in 1682; Robert Jefferson settled in Nova Scotia in 1774.