Urvoy

This unusual and interesting name is of French origin, specifically from the region of Brittany. The name is recorded heraldically in Rietstap's "Armorial General", where the arms of the Urvoys of Villeoury in Brittany are shown to be three owls, sable (black) on a field, argent (silver). In heraldry the owl denotes "Vigilance", and is always drawn facing forward. Interestingly there is another family with a variant of the name "Urvoy" recorded as "Urvoit de St. Mirel" in Brittany, and their arms are recorded as seven mullets or stars (spur-rowels), or, (gold) on a field azure (blue). The name "urvoy" is not recorded in England until the mid 18th Century, when the marriage of one Toussaint Feliz Urvoy to Marguerite Andrien was recorded at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London on the 9th of July 1757. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Urvoy de la Villeoury, which was dated circa 1680, Brittany (Rietstap's, Armorial General), during the reign of King Louix XIV of France "The Sun King", 1643 - 1715. 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.