Standeven

Recorded as Standaven and more usually Standeven, this is an English surname of some rarity which is closely associated with the north of the country and specifically the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is of Olde English pre 7th century origins, and is a fused form of the words 'standan' meaning to stand, and 'efen', meaning firm or balanced and in later times, even. As such it was given as a medieval surname of distinction to a person considered by his peer group to have the characteristics of trust and resolution in times of anxiety and stress. Similar surnames from the same period include Standfast and Standwell, and it is interesting to speculate what events in history caused people to be so named. There is a suggestion that similar surname exists in Scandanavia, and given the association between the Vikings and Yorkshire, this is possible, but not proven. A coat of arms has the blazon of a red field charged with a corinthian pillar bendwise, bedecked with laurel leaves. Amongst the early surving church recordings are those of Thomas Standeven, whose daughter Sara was christened at Halifax in 1565, and John Standeven, a witness at St Martins, York, in 1586.