Divers History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Early Origins of the Divers family

The surname Divers was first found in Cambridge where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. It was not uncommon to find a Baron, or a Bishop, with 60 or more Lordships scattered throughout the country. These he gave to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. After many rebellious wars between his Barons, Duke William, commissioned a census of all England to determine in 1086, settling once and for all, who held which land. He called the census the Domesday Book, 1 indicating that those holders registered would hold the land until the end of time. Hence, conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Boselinus de Dive, a knight of archbishop Lanfranc of Christ Church, Canterbury, who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086. He was listed as Dives sur Mer, from Calvados in Normandy. This great family held all the lands of Dives near Caen.

Early History of the Divers family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Divers research. Another 75 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1172, 1587, 1599, 1603, 1607, 1645, 1647, 1669 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Divers History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Divers Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Dive, Dives, Divas, Diva, Dyve, Dyves, Dyva, Diver and many more.

Early Notables of the Divers family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Sir Lewis Dyve (1599-1669), an English Member of Parliament and a Royalist adherent during the English Civil War. He was the son of Sir John Dyve of Bromham, Bedfordshire (d. 1607.) Dyve was captured at the siege of Sherborne, and imprisoned in the Tower of London from 1645 to 1647. He escaped, but was...
Another 61 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Divers Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Divers Ranking

In the United States, the name Divers is the 16,565^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 2

Migration of the Divers family to Ireland

Some of the Divers family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 99 words (7 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Divers migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Divers Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

William Divers, who landed in New England in 1725 3
George Divers, who settled in New York in 1758

Divers Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Charles Divers, who settled in San Francisco in 1852

Divers migration to Australia +

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

Divers Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. Christopher Divers, English convict who was convicted in Norfolk, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Chapman" on 6th April 1824, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Divers (post 1700) +

George E. Divers, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from New Jersey, 1920 5
Edward Divers FRS (1837-1912), British experimental chemist who despite being visually impaired from young age rose to prominence in Japan

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
"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)
Convict Records of Australia. Retreived 26th January 2021 from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/chapman
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 25) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html