Recorded in several spellings including Dewsbury, Duesbury, Duberry, Jusbury, and the extraordinary dialectal form of Joesbury, this is an English or in some cases, possibly French, locational surname. It nearly always originates from the town of Dewsbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire, which is recorded as "Deusberia" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Dewesbiri" in the 1226 Feet of Fines. The derivation of the placename is from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Dewi" or "David", and "burg", a fort or fortified place; hence, "David's fort". The surname may however be a variant of the French "Dubarry", which is a topographical name for "one who lived at the edge of the town". The name is from the Anglo-Norman French "barri", a rampart or embankment of a fort, although later "barri" came to mean a suburb outside the rampart of a town. Early examples of the surname recordings include Robertus de Dewsbury in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire, and Alicia Dewesburyy in the same rolls. Other recordings of the surname include: the marriage of Christopher Dewberry and Anne Bigott on December 21st 1584, at Whixley, Yorkshire; the christening of Elizabeth, daughter of Gyles Dewberry, at St. Andrew Undershaft, London, on February 22nd 1589; and the christening of Thomas Joesbury at the church of St Mary's, Lambeth, on May 18th 1821. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas de Dewesberi, which was dated 1204, in the "Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire". This was during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216.

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