Harvey Family History

English (of Norman origin): from the Old French and Middle English personal name Hervei also found as Herveu Hervé and Hervi. The name Herveu or Herv(e)i was borne by a number of Bretons at the Norman Conquest and as such represents a French form of the Old Breton name Hoiearnviu or Hærviu (see Herve).

Among Normans Herve(i) or Herv(e)i was also a French form of ancient Germanic Hariwic Herewic (from hari ‘army’ + wīg ‘war’) with intervocalic /w/ becoming /v/ in Old French. The Breton and ancient Germanic names were commonly Latinized as Herve(i)us and Hervic(i)us respectively but since their most common vernacular forms in Old French were indistinguishable the Latin forms were also sometimes interchangeable especially Herveus.

Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAirmheadhaigh ‘descendant of Airmheadhach’ a personal name probably meaning ‘esteemed’. It seems to be a derivative of Airmheadh the name borne by a mythological physician.

Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hEarchaidh ‘descendant of Earchadh’ a personal name of uncertain origin. Irish: sometimes identical with 1 especially through migration from southwest Scotland.

Altered form of Breton Hervé (see Herve) a cognate of 1 above.