Vivash

This interesting surname with variant spellings of Vivash and Fiveash is of locational origins from a place called "five-ash-trees", near Devizes, in Wiltshire. In Southern England "f" was pronounced as "v" and in consequence became written and recorded in the same way. Locational surnames were originally the distinguishing mark of the Lord of the Manor, and in this case a Coat of Arms is listed for the Viveash family of Calne, Wiltshire in some confirmation of the origination. Later locational surnames were acquired as former inhabitants of a village moved, voluntarily or otherwise, to a new area, and thereafter were identified by the name of their birthplace. In the modern idiom the surname can be found as Vivash, Viveash and Vivaesh. Examples of the name recordings include Robert Viveash, who married Mary Turner on January 1st 1655, at Idmiston, Wiltshire, and Harriet Viveash, who married William Clark at Great Bedwyn, also in Wiltshire, on September 11th 1836. The Coat of Arms is blue, on a silver chevron, between three gold wreaths, a red eastern crown. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Viveash, which was dated October 13th 1606, when he married Joane Tanner at Stoney Newton, Wiltshire, during the reign of King James l of England and Vl of Scotland, 1603 - 1625. 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.