Byas History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland
Ireland
England

The Byas family chronicle reaches back into history to the Boernician tribe of ancient Scotland. The Byas family lived in or near the place named Byers in Scotland. The place-name, Byers, derives from the Old English word byre, which means cattle shed. 1 Thus, Byers is of two derivations, topographical and habitational.

Alternatively, the name could have been Norman in origin originating a "the chateau of Biars in the canton of Isigni, La Manche, Normandy. " 2 3

Early Origins of the Byas family

The surname Byas was first found in East Lothian, where they held a family seat from ancient times. One of the first records of the name related to the place name as in David de Lindsay the younger, also called David Lindsay of the Byres (died 1279), a 13th century Scottish knight and crusader. John de Pyres appears as a monk of Neubotle in 1309. Thome de Byris owned a tenement in Edinburgh in 1392, and in 1534 Thomas Byrs was admitted burgess of Aberdeen. 4 Today, Byres Road is a famous street located in Hillhead, Glasgow.

In England, the first record of the family was found in Devon where Elias de la Byare was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1275. A few years later, Willelmus del Byre was found in the Subsidy Rolls for Yorkshire in 1301 and later again, John Buyres was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Somerset in 1327. 5

Early History of the Byas family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Byas research. Another 141 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1309, 1392, 1534, 1593, 1639, 1653, 1681, 1690, 1694, 1733, 1750, 1790, 1817 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Byas History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Byas Spelling Variations

Spelling variations occur frequently in Scottish names that date from the medieval era. They result from a general lack of grammatical rules and the tendency to spell names according to sound. Byas has been spelled Byers, Byres, Byer, Buyers, Byris and others.

Early Notables of the Byas family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Nicholas Byer (d. 1681), Norwegian painter, a native of Drontheim in Norway. He practised portrait and historical painting, and on emigrating to England found a steady patron in Sir William Temple, at whose seat at Sheen, in Surrey, he lived for three or four years. His reputation as a face-painter must have been considerable; several persons of distinction, including some members of the royal family, sat to him. Dying at Sheen in 1681 he is said to have been the first person buried at...
Another 91 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Byas Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Byas Ranking

In the United States, the name Byas is the 14,966^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 6

Migration of the Byas family to Ireland

Some of the Byas family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 57 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Byas family

In the 20th century, the ancestors of many of those Boernician-Scottish people still populate North America. They distributed themselves on either side of the border at the time of the War of Independence. United Empire Loyalists went north to Canada and those who wanted a new nation stayed south. Both groups went on to found great nations. Some of the first North American settlers with Byas name or one of its variants: Henry, Jacob, and Nicholas Byer who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between 1738 and 1844; Will Byers settled in Georgia in 1734; Alexander, Robert and John Byers arrived in Philadelphia between 1816 and 1867.

Contemporary Notables of the name Byas (post 1700) +

Richard Reese Byas Jr. (b. 1950), American NFL football defensive back from the Atlanta Falcons (1974-1980)
Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (1912-1972), American jazz tenor saxophonist, best known for his work with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie
David Byas (b. 1963), English first-class cricketer from Middledale, Kilham, East Riding of Yorkshire

Historic Events for the Byas family +

HMS Dorsetshire

Cyril William Byas, British Commander Executive Officer aboard the HMS Dorsetshire (1945) when she was struck by air bombers and sunk; he was wounded in the sinking 7

Citations +

Smith, Eldson Coles, New Dictionary of American Family Names New York: Harper & Row, 1956. Print
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Force Z Survivors HMS Dorsetshire Crew List, (Retrieved 2018, February 13th), https://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listdorsetshirecrew.html