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Beauvais - Name

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This name, with variant spellings Be(a)ves, Be(e)vis(s), Beauvais and Bovis, has two possible origins - both French. The first is locational from Beauvais in Oise which was so called from the Gallic tribe who settled there, referred to in Latin sources as the Bellovaci. Various other places in North France named from the late Latin "bellum visum", lovely sight, may also have given rise to the surname which first appears on record in England in the latter part of the 11th Century having been introduced by the Normans, (see below). Other early recordings include Simon de Beauveys (London, 1292), and Robert de Beueys, (Cambridgeshire, 1327). The second possibility is that the name derives from the Old French "bel fi(l)z", from "beu" or "bel", fair or lovely, plus "fi(l)z", a son, and originally given as an affectionate nickname to a favoured person. Recordings include Odo Belfiz, (Hampshire, 1176) and William Beaufiz, (Gloucestershire, 1208). In 1614 one, Charles Beavis, Co. Devon, was entered in "The Oxford University Register". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Goisbert de Beluaco, which was dated 1086, in the "The Domesday Book for Hertfordshire", during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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.