Jeffers

The history of this name is a little complicated, since two and possibly three Old German personal names have "fallen together" in the same form, of "Geoffrey" or "Jeffrey". In England the name was introduced by the Normans after 1066 as "Je(u)froi", and appears in Middle English as "Geffrey". At that time "Godfrey" was a separate name, and it is thought that some "Geoffrey's" may be corruptions of that name. Otherwise, the names that combined to form "Jeffrey" were "Godafrid" meaning "god-peace", "Gaufrid", territory or region and peace and "Galfirdus", meaning song-peace. The patronymic forms of the name include Jeff(e)ry(e)s, Jeffer(i)s, Jeffress, etc.. One Mary Jeffers, daughter of Edward and Susana Jeffers was christened at St. Dunstan, Stepney on January 3rd 1683 at St. James, Dukes Place, London and James, son of James and Elizabeth Jeffers, was christened at St. Leonards, Shoreditch, London on October 8th 1828. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Geffrei, which was dated 1203, in the "Norfolk Curia Rolls", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland" 1199 - 1216. 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.