Gervais
A French surname from the saint’s name Gervasius, later also seen in English forms like Jarvis and Jervis.
The #6,488 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,000 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Gervais is the French form of the Latin personal name Gervasius, originally a given name borne by a Christian saint. In surname use, it began as a name identifying someone as the son or descendant of a man named Gervais/Gervasius. Older writers sometimes linked the name to Germanic roots, but the clearest historical line is through the Latin saint’s name.
History
The name spread through French and French-influenced communities, and in English records it often appears in altered forms such as Jarvis or Jervis. One 19th-century source specifically notes a French Huguenot family of Gervais in County Tyrone, descended from a Jean Gervais who fled after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The surname also appears in Irish genealogical and clerical scholarship as a recognized family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A single French saint’s name generated a whole cluster of surnames in different languages, including Gervais, Gervase, Jarvis, and Jervis.
From the historical record
“GERRETT. See Gerard. GERVAIS. The French form of the per- sonal name Gervasius, which we have cor- rupted to Jarvis. The family of Gervais of Cecil, CO. Tyrone, descend from Jean G. of Tournon in Guienne, whose two sons, at the Rev. of the Edict of Nantes, fled into England. GERVIS. See Gervais, Jervis, &c. GEST.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom