Tyers

This interesting and unusual surname has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation. Firstly, Tyers may be of early medieval English origin, and an ethnic name for someone from Germany or the Low Countries, deriving from the Anglo-Norman French word "tieis, tiois", German, ultimately from the Old High German "diutisk, tiutisc", from "diot", people, or race. Early examples of the surname from this source include: Fulbrich Tyes (London, 1236), and Franco le Tyeys (Yorkshire, 1273). The "r" in this instance is a dialectal intrusion introduced to make for easier pronunciation. The second possibility is that Tyers is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and a locational name from Tyers (Hill), a hamlet north of Rotherham in the West Riding of Yorkshire, believed to be so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century "thyrs", giant, demon, probably with reference to some local legend, and "hyll", hill. On June 29th 1601, Dorothy Tyers and John Rands were married in London, and on November 18th 1695, Thomas Tyers married Gertrude Thompson in Rotherham, Yorkshire. John Tyers, an early settler in the New World, was recorded on a "List of the Living in Virginia" on February 16th 1623. A Coat of Arms granted to the Tyers family is a silver shield with a red chevron, on a canton of the first a black cinquefoil, the Crest being a red demi lion rampant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Everard le Tieis, which was dated 1170, in the "Book of Seals for Hertfordshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.