Travers
A Norman-French surname for someone who lived by a crossway, crossroads, or side-road.
The #4,525 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,416 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Travers comes through Anglo-French from Old French travers or traverse, meaning a crossway, side-road, or something set athwart. The word ultimately goes back to Latin transversus, meaning "across" or "oblique." In surname use, it likely first described someone living near a crossing or cross-road rather than a traveler.
History
Medieval records show the name in England by the early 13th century, including forms such as de Travers. Historical surname writers also note that Travis and Traviss often appear as variants of Travers in older records. The name established itself in England and later spread to other English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname scholars explicitly linked Travers and Travis, noting that the same person could be recorded under either form in late 16th- and early 17th-century records.
From the historical record
“TRATT, a var. of Trott, q.v. TRAVERS \ (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Dwellerat a Cross- TRAVERSE J Road [O.Fr. travers-e; f. Lat. transversus, oblique, athwart] TRAVISS I '"'^^'^ forms of Travers(e, q.v. In the late i6th and early 17th centuries the same individual is often called indiff- erently 'Travers' and 'Travis'.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)