This interesting surname has two possible origins. Firstly, it may be metonymic from the female given name Eve, originally "Hawwah" meaning life and given to Adam's wife. "And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 111, 20). "Eva" (without surname) appears in the Danelaw Charters, Lincolnshire (1206), and John filius (son of) Eve, is noted in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire (1273). The second possibility is topographical deriving from the Old English pre 7th Century "efes" meaning border and describes "a dweller by the border or edge" of a wood or hill. One, John atte Reuese, appears in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire and Robert del Eves, is noted in the 1332 Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire. In the modern idiom the surname has many variant spellings including Eaves, Eavis, Reeves, Evison, etc.. On September 1st 1572, Ann Eves was christened at St. Mary Whitechapel, Stepney, London. Annes, daughter of Richard Eves, was christened on May 14th 1581, at St. Giles Cripplegate, London. The christening of Sybil, daughter of William Eves, took place at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John atte Euese, which was dated 1275, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.

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