Trevance

This is a locational Cornish surname recorded in the spellings of Trevan, Treven, Trevena, Trevain, Trevance, Trevane, Trevenes, Trevaine, Trevven, Trevens, Trevains, and possibly others. It originates from the village of Trevone near Padstow, and is first recorded as 'Treavon' in the Cornish rolls for the year 1302. The village name and hence the later surname, translates as 'the farm by the water' or similar, from the ancient words 'tre avon'. The surname in the plural, when used as a locational name, usually indicates somebody who lived by a particular place, although it may simply be dialectal to aid pronunciation. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. This is to say that they were given to people after they moved from their original village to somewhere else. Cornwall, part of the Celtic and Gaelic culture, along with Ireland, Wales, parts of Scotland, and Brittany in France, is unusual in that locational surnames are popular. Normally in these other regions they are rare, patronymics or tribal (clan) names being the norm. Early examples of this surname taken from surviving church register recordings include: Alson Trevance of Bodmin on November 2nd 1559, Elizabeth Treven, christened at Helston on June 14th 1747, James Trevons, a witness at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, London, on July 25th 1756, and Eliza Trevain, who married John Barber, at Bolventor, Cornwall, on August 16th 1856.