Name of the Week

 

 
A svelte surname that descends from an ancient
and enigmatic given name.

 

Origin:

A vernacular form of Gervase, an anglicisation of the Latinised name Gervasius. The origins of the name are rather mysterious, and several theories (some rather bizarre) have been put forward over the last few centuries. Gervasius first appears in reference to a 2nd, possibly 1st, century martyr of Milan, twin brother of Protasius (often called Gervase and Protase). The general consensus in scholarship is that the name derived as a latinised form of an ancient Germanic name. The first element is thought to be the Old High German ger "spear," an element which is found in many familiar names such as Gerald, Gerard, Germaine, Gertrude, Roger etc. The second element is considered to be the Gaulish word *uassos "servant"** (vassus in Gallo-Roman), a word that ultimately derives from the Old Celtic *wasso / *wasto*. How two words of a different origin became merged into one name is a mystery, and one that has not been fully investigated. K.M.Sheard* put forward the idea that the whole name could be purely Gaulish (and therefore essentially Celtic) in origin. There are, she argues, several Common Celtic words that could explain the initial Ger- such as *garwo "rough, rugged," *gwariyf "duty" and *gƒri­ "shout, call"*.

Usage:

Gervasius was introduced to Britain with the Normans, where it had modest usage in the anglicised form of Gervase. For example, it represented 0.3% of the male names found in the Devon poll tax of 1377 (the same percentage as Gilbert, Matthew, Hugh, Laurence, Andrew and Gregory)*, and one "Geruas' le tannur" (Gervase the Tanner) is listed out of the some 800 people on the 1292 Subsidy Roll of London*.  The usage of Gervase is further attested by the multitude of surnames that it led to, which also give us a good idea of how the name was pronounced: Jarvis, Jervis, Jervois, Jervoise and Gervis. It was used by the aristocratic Clifton and Markham families from at least 1200, and had spread to several other gentry families, particularly in South Yorkshire, by the early 16th century. The baptism register of Kirkburton, West Yorkshire, in 1558-1560 list the spellings Gervace, Jarvis, Jarvas and Jarves, showing that the spellings could be interchanged.  In the 19th century the name Jarvis averaged from between 10 and 30 birth registrations per year. The UK census pages show how consistent the usage of name was across the century: 1841: 578 named Jarvis; 873 with variant spellings. 1861: 510 named Jarvis; 584 with variant spellings. 1881: 722 named Jarvis; 973 with variant spellings. 1900: 704 named Jarvis; 908 with variant spellings.  Usage of the name dropped down to a handful of registrations per year by the 1930s. In 1996 Jarvis ranked #489 (37 births) in England and Wales. From that point on the name had a count of between 9 and 30 births per year. In 2011 the name ranked #1045 with 25 births. One Jarvis was registered in Scotland in 2010, though there were none in 2011.

Famous Bearers:

History: * St Gervasius (Gervase), 2nd century saint and martyr. * Gervase of Blois, Abbot of Westminster between c.1138 to c.1157 * Gervase of Canterbury (c.1141–c.1210), medieval chronicler. * Gervase of Tilbury (c.1150–1228), English chronicler. * Gervase Babington (1549–1610), Bishop of Llandaff (1591–1594), Bishop of Exeter (1594–1597) and Bishop of Worcester (1597-1610). * Gervase (or Jervis) Markham (c.1568–1637), British poet and writer. * Jarvis Hunt (1863–1941), renowned Chicago architect. * Gervase Elwes (1866–1921), notable and influential British tenor. Contemporary: * Jarvis Cocker (b.1963), singer-songwriter. Literature: * Jarvis Lorry, a character in Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities.

Variants:

Gervasius (Latin), Gervase, Jervis (Old English) Gervais (French) Gervasio (Italian, Spanish), Gervas (German)

Pronunciation:

JAR-vis  [key]

Possible Diminutives:

Jay, Jazz, Raj

Sibling Names:

Rosa     Sybil     Idony     Cicely     Mila     Theda  Leon     Bertram    Guy     Everard     Alden     Griffin

Name Lists:

Dickensian Names

 

If you like Jarvis you may also like:   Jasper, Hugo, Oscar, Curtis, Jared, Giles, Reilly, Willis Gerard, Harris

 

Thanks to Tamba for requesting Jarvis as this week's NotW.