Laverock

This unusual and interesting name is of medieval English origin, and is a peculiarly northern English form of the nickname surname 'Lark', usually found in Northumberland and Yorkshire. The modern surname, found as 'Laverick', 'Lavarack' and 'Laverock' is in fact very close to its original form, since the derivation of the name is from the Old English pre 7th Century 'lawerce', in Middle English 'lavero(c)k' and 'lark'. As a nickname the term was used of someone noted for being a good singer and of a cheerful, blithe disposition, perhaps too an early riser. It could also have been a metonymic occupational name for someone who trapped the birds and sold them for the cooking pot. One, Richard Laverock was recorded in "The Hundred Rolls of Nottinghamshire", dated 1273, and a Willelmus Laverok in the 1379 "Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire". On February 18th 1677, Francis Laverick and Elizabeth Ridley were married in Lythe, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Juliana Laveroc, witness, which was dated 1243, in the Assize Court Records of Co. Durham, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as the Frenchman, 1216 - 1272. 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.