Nameberry says Devereaux means “riverbank.” I can see that eaux means waters, but how do you break up the beginning part of the words? Is it de ver eaux: something like “of near waters?”
I need a French speaker to help me understand.
Mmm my minimal research indicates that Devereaux means ‘from the town of evreaux’ (d’Evreaux) and Evreaux is a French name that means “from the Eburovices”. The Eburovices were a Gallic tribe who lived in the area in the late 1st century BC. The name comes from the Gaulish word eburo, which means “yew tree”.
So I dont really know where nameberry got that meaning.
When spelled Devero it might possibly have Italian origins relating to defender or to differ. But I can’t find any other place that has the name meaning anything related to water or river.
(But just wanted to add I am NOT French, so maybe a native speaker could explain where nameberry came up with that meaning?)
*I just saw that they do have Deverell listed as meaning from evreaux but they don’t have it linked to Devereaux.
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I asked my best friend, who is a [name_f]French[/name_f] speaker & lives in [name_f]France[/name_f], and this is what she said:
[name_f][/name_f]“Devereaux begins with the prefix de-, which signifies that the name originally came from the surname ‘de Vereaux’. [name_f]French[/name_f] surnames that begin with de- mean that the person with that name was a noble from that region (the commune of Vereaux).
[name_f][/name_f]I guess I could see the ‘riverbank’ meaning if you literally break down the word: ‘de’ meaning of, ‘vers’ meaning towards, and ‘eaux’ meaning water, but ‘eaux’ is also a super common plural suffix as well, so the previous explanation of the meaning would be the most straightforward.”
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I’m going to update the meaning [name_f][/name_f]- “from Evreux” seems more accepted
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agreeing with all of the above, just adding that the town of Évreux is by a river? so maybe that’s where the riverbank came from?
[name_f][/name_f]either way, “of Évreux” seems more likely as a meaning
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