Evershed

This interesting name, with spellings Evered, Evershed, Everid, Everitt and Everatt, derives from an old German personal name Eburhard or Everhard composed of the elements "eber", wild boar, plus "hard", hardy, brave, strong. The name was introduced into England by the Normans, and is particularly well recorded in East Anglia, an area of dense Norman and Breton settlement. Ebrard and Eurardus (without surname) appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. The surname was first recorded at the beginning of the 13th Century, (see below). The step between Everard and the later forms Everett, Everitt etc., is Everad as in Geoffrey Everad recorded in "The Chartulary of Ramsey Abbey", Norfolk (1300). In 1527 Thomas Jeffes and Margery Evered were married in London, on March 2nd 1640 Elzabeth Evershed was christened at St Augustines, Watling Street, London, whilst in July 1635 Aron Everett, an early emigrant to the New World, embarked from London on the "Paule" bound for Virginia. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Everard, which was dated 1204, in "The Pipe Rolls of Bedfordshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.