The Name Sivyer

It should be noted, from the very commencement of this particular SIVYER HISTORY, that, the shipping records, have shown that the name SIVYER was spelt " SIVIER as well as SIVYER." This spelling appears frequently in all early records and further it has been proven that the name has been spelt in various ways.

For instance, it is on record that the name has been spelt thus: Sevier, Seviour, Sevyer, Siveyer, Sivier, Le Siviere and Sivyear. Early English Rolls also have it as Le Seuyare. 

Another researcher, Sally Wagstaff, provides the following information on the name SIVYER: "This English surname appears to have dual origin, first occupational referring to a maker of sieves, secondly patronymic referring to the name of the father of the initial bearer. The occupational origin, is derived from the name Sivier, from the old French for a sieve-maker. The name was introduced into Britian by the Norman French under William the Conqueror in the year 1066, and has settled and became anglicised with usage; the patronymic origin, deriving from the name Silvester cannot be overlooked although it is less likely than it's predecessor. Silvester is from the Old English, and Old German for "a wood", and was borne by three Popes, including a contemporary of Constantine the Great. Sivier and Sivyer would be West Midlands variants by pronunciation. The addition of surnames came into fashion in the thirteenth century when the population was expanding rapidly. There was a great movement from the countryside into the towns and villages, and it had besome necessary to be able to distinguish reliably between individuals for reasons including commerce, land transactions, and the need for public records.

The earliest written references to the name or a variant date back to the year 1273, when the Hundred Rolls from the county of Cambridge mentions the name Ralph Le Siviere, and the Calendariun Inquisitionum Post Mortem refers to one Peter Syvyre. In 1615 the Baptism of Susanna, daughter of John Sevier took place at St.James' Church, Clerkenwell, London, and the marriages of John Sieier to Francis Waud in 1793, and of Richard Sivyer to Francis Mattingley in 1798, were recorded at St.

George's church, Hanover Square, London."

Therefore it should be remembered, by any person making further investigations that there are various ways that the name has been spelt. However here in Australia, Sivyer seems to be the most common way to spell it, while in East Sussex it often appeared as Sivier and other forms.