Ives
An English surname that usually comes from the given name Ive or Ivo, with some lines also linked to saints’ names and place-names such as St. Ives.
The #4,317 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,501 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ives is generally a surname formed from the medieval personal name Ive or Ivo, so it originally meant “son of Ive/Ivo” in many cases. The name Ivo was used in Norman and other medieval European traditions, and some writers also connected it with older English usage. Because of the place-names St. Ives in Cornwall and Huntingdonshire, some bearers may also have taken the surname from association with those locations, both of which were linked in tradition to saints named Iva/Ivo.
History
Historical surname writers treated Ives as part of a wider family of names including Ive, Iveson, Ivison, and related forms. Some sources also noted a folk explanation connecting Ives or Iveson with “son of the Jew,” but that is not a secure etymology and should be treated cautiously. The surname is established in England and later spread to North America and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Both St. Ives in Cornwall and St. Ives in Huntingdonshire helped keep the saintly associations of this surname alive in later family-name lore.
From the historical record
“RHiiRSON. The same as Iveson. IVES. IVESON. Sec Ive. According to the ' Folks of Shields,' Ives or Iveson means Filius Judai, son of the Jew. Filius Ivonis. H.R. WETT. See Ive and Ivatts. IVIMEY. See under Ivy. IVINS. IVENS. Corruptions of Evans. IVISON. See Ive.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom