JARVIS members around the world

JARVIS Family History

Recorded in over fifty surname spellings including: Jervis and Jarvis of England, Gervaise and Gervex (France), Gervas, Hervas, and Hervarth (Germany), Vason and Gervasoni (Italy), Fasin (Switzerland), and many more, this interesting surname is of pre 7th century Germanic origins. It derives from the personal name "Gervase", composed of the elements "geri," meaning a spear, and possibly "vaulx", a valley.The name as a personal name, was popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, because it was originally that of a Christian saint martyred by the Roman Emperor Domitian in the 3rd century a.d. A secondary developed source of the name in England is from the abbey and village of Jervaulx in the county of North Yorkshire...