Travis
Usually a surname of French origin, related to Travers, and originally linked to a crossing place or crossroads.
The #998 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,825 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is generally taken as a reduced or altered form of French Travers or Traverse. In that tradition, it comes from Old French de la traverse, referring to someone who lived by a crossing, crossway, or place where roads met. Some 19th-century writers also treated Travis as a spelling or pronunciation shift from Travers rather than as a separate origin.
History
Historical records show Travis and Travers being used interchangeably in some places in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The surname appears in English parish and probate records, especially in north-western England, and later in other English-speaking countries. Some older Cornish antiquarian writing suggested other local explanations, but the broader English-French derivation is the standard one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical note links Travis and Travers so closely that the same person could be recorded under either surname in early documents.
From the historical record
“TRAVIL. See Thetill. TRAVIS. See Tbetisa. TRAYHEARNE. See Trehern. TRAYNOR. See Tbainor. TREAD WELL. See Tredudwell. TREA60. Hals says tbis name was anciently De Treago, from Tre-ago, or Tre-agbo, in Crantock ; and he gives an absurd etymology. The name is probably from Tre^Iago, the dwelling of lago, or James. See…”
— Patronymica Cornu-Britannica; or, the etymology of Cornish surnames