The surname of BIVANS is of two-fold origin, it was a baptismal name 'the son of Evan' an ancient Welsh font name. It also meant a wine-drinker, one who tasted wine for a living, from the Old French BEIVRE. Most of the European surnames in countries such as England, Scotland and France were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name. Early records mention Simon Beivin who was documented in Essex in 1203 and Nicholas Boyvin in Somerset in 1243. Edward Bevan was recorded in Wales in the year 1300, and a latter instance mentions Thomas Bevan who was the prebendary of St. David's in the year 1680. John Baynham and Margaret Bevan were married at St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, London in 1748. An eminent member of the name was Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) the Welsh Labour politician, born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire. He was one of 13 children of a miner, and began work in the pits at 13. Six years later he was chairman of a Miners' Lodge of more than 4,000 members. He was appointed minister of health in 1945, and in 1948 he introduced the revolutionary National Health Service. He became minister of Labour in 1951. Since the dawn of civilisation the need to communicate has been a prime drive of all higher mankind. The more organised the social structure became, the more urgent the need to name places, objects and situations essential to the survival and existence of the social unit. From this common stem arose the requirements to identify families, tribes and individual members evolving into a pattern in evidence today. In the formation of this history, common usage of customs, trades, locations, patronymic and generic terms were often adopted as surnames. The demands of bureaucracy formally introduced by feudal lords in the 11th century, to define the boundaries and families within their fiefdoms, crystallized the need for personal identification and accountability, and surnames became in general use from this time onwards.The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. |
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