VIERS ROOT NAME RESEARCH http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~viers/rootname.html VIERS/VER/VERE/DE VERE/VEIRS/VERES/OLIVER (VIER)/VEER/VIER(I)/VEARE/ VAIR (and other variations) <<Conducting genealogical research on a family surname becomes increasingly complicated as one realizes the family name spelling today may have many variations in the past. This is the reason it is important to have some understanding of how a family name may have evolved over the centuries. Documents within one family generation may reveal as many as twelve or fifteen variant spellings, which causes even greater confusion. This research paper is an attempt to explore just a few variations of the root of Viers as it evolved over time, going back to 70 B.C. in Sicily. .   What is the acceptable way to spell our family name? Well, documents, publications and many other sources add a mystery to that question. As a person researches the many documents relating to Wills, Land transaction, Probate Court Records, baptism records, etc., one may find the name spelled four or five different ways in one document. Here are most of the spellings found: Viers, Veirs, Vear, Vears, Veares, Veres, Vere, Vire, Via, Ver, Veers, Veeres, Veer, Vare, Vore, Verre. Going back to the first century in France, one finds King Ver. Moving up to the time of Charlegmagne, we find Baron Vere who went to England. Then we see his line in the Earls of Oxford, spelling the name de Vere (of Vere). Then when looking at marriages in several counties in England and at Hearth Taxes, we find in the 1500's and 1600's, the name is spelled Vear, Veare, Vears, Veares, Vere, Veres. Then immigration records show Vear, Veeres, Veres, Viers, Via coming from England and France on passenger lists. So, if you live in Maryland, the name most likely is spelled Veirs. If you live in Ohio, Iowa, Oklahoma, Oregon, the name is most likely spelled Viers. If you live in Kentucky, you are liable to find it spelled Viers, Veirs, Vires, Vore, Via. If you live in Dickenson County, Virginia, you will only find it spelled Viers. So take your choice. There is no right way to spell the name officially except however you inherited the name from your father (and even some of the children have once again changed the spelling from their father's.) I guess what is important is that all of it boils down to family, not spelling. .   Such comments as this one made by the Governor of Maryland even causes more confusion: Remarks by Governor Parris N. Glendening at the Educational Funding News Conference Monday, January 12, 1998 Good afternoon. I noticed coming out here this morning that on the road signs Veirs Mill Road is spelled V-E-I-R-S. Yet the spelling of the school, pronounced the same way, is V-I-E-R-S. Mr. Virga says that is because the teachers here at the school wanted to make certain the students remember the rule i before e, except after c! Now that is a commitment to the rules in education! Whoever told the Governor of Maryland this story has not really studied this on going controversy in the Rockville, Maryland area as there are other locations around Rockville that spell the name Viers. One can still drive down Veirs Mill Road or Viers Mill Road and find road signs with the two different spellings, depending on which sign you are looking at. Published Road Atlases vary between publishers as to how they spell the name on the road maps. .   The Washington Post published a story in 2001 with the _title_: I Before E Except Veirs in which the story discusses the controversy of the name spelling. .   Then, again, maybe the name should be spelled Vears as we see it in some land documents and Wills, marriage recordings and on some tombstones and found in Parish records in Warwickshire and Essex Counties in England. Then, again, the French and Germans commonly spell the name Viers. .   The following is the results of the name root search cited in the _title_: .   VIERS(I) is an Italian cognate of OLIVER which is English, Scots, French, Catalan and German. VE(A)RE is an English cognate of VER which is French. .   VER French: 1. Habitation name from any of the numerous places named with the Gaukish element 'ver(n)' alder; of. VARDON, VARNEY and VERNON. 2. From the medieval given name ?Ver? (Latin 'Verus') {~over the e) which means ?True?, which enjoyed some slight currency in honour of a 4 th century bishop of Vienna. 3. Variation of VAIR. 4. Variation of VERT; see VERDE. .   Variations of: 1. VERNE(S), VERGNE, VERNHE; LAVERGNE; DUVERNE; VERNIER. .   Cognates of: 1. English: VE(A)RE (see also WEIR 4). .   Provencal: VERGNA(S); LAVERGNA, LASVERGNAS. .   Diminuitives of: 1. French: VERNET, VERGNOL(LE) .   Collective of: 1. French: VERNIERE (~ over 2 ND E) .   break .   VAIR-French: Nickname for someone with a blotchy complexion, or who made a habit of dressing in clothes of different colours, from Old French 'vair' variegate (Latin 'varius'). The same word was also used in the Middle Ages of a type of variegated fur, probably that of the Russian squirrel (cf. the Czech word 'VEVERKA' ?squirrel?), and the surname may have also denoted someone who traded in furs. According to an early version of the fairy tale, Cinderella's slippers were made of this fur, but when the word fell out of use and was no longer understood; it was changed to the less plausible 'verre' glass (cf. VERRIER). .   Variation: VER. .   Diminutives: VAIREL, VEREL (~over 1 st E), VAIRET, VER(EL)ET (~ over 1 st E), VERLET, VAIRON, VEYRON. .   break .   WEIR: 1. English: Topographic name for someone who lived by a dam or weir on a river, a variation of WARE 1. 2. Irish: Anglicized form of Gelic ?Mac and Mahoir' ?son of the steward?; see MC NAIR. 3. Irish: Anglicised form _base_d on an erroneous translation (as if from Gaelic 'core' weir, stepping stones), of various Gaelic names such as 'O Corra' (~ over first O) and 'O Comhradhe' (! Over 1 st O) (see CORR and CORY 2). 4. Scots: according to Black, this name is a Norman origin, from various places in Valvados, Mance, Eure-et-Loire, and Orne called ?Vere', from Old Norse 'ver' dam, which makes it ultimately cognate with 1 above. However, (cf.VER 1). .   break .   VEVERKA-Czech: Nickname meaning ?squirrel?, applied either to someone who bore a fancied resemblance to a squirrel, or perhaps to someone who habitually dressed in squirrel fur (cf. French VAIR) .   VERRIER-English, Norman and French: Occupational name for maker of glass _object_s, Old French 'verrie(o)r' (from 'verre', 'voi(r)e glass, Latin 'vitrum'). .   Variations-English: VERRIOUR. French: VEYRIER, LEVERRIER. .   Cognates-Provencal: VEYRADIER. Italian: VETRAIO. .   break .   OLIVER-English, Scots, French, Catalan and German: From the Old French given name 'Oliver', which was brought to England by the Normans from France. It was popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages as having been borne by one of the Charlemagne's paladine, the faithful friend of Roland, about whose exploits there were many popular romances. The name ostensibly means 'olive tree' (see OLIVA), but this is almost certainly the result of fold etymology working on a personal name of Germanic origin, perhaps one cognate with 'Alavaro' (~ over the 1 st A). The surname is also borne by Jews, apparently as an adoption of the non-Jewish surname. .   Variatons-English: OLIVER (Devon), French: OL(L)IVEIR. .   Catalan: OLIVE (~ over E). .   Cognates-Italian: OLI(IER)I, OLIV(I)ERO, OLIVERIO; ULIVIERI (Tuscany); LIVIERI, LIVEIRO (Emilia, Lombardy); VIER(I), VIERO (Tuscany, Venetia). Spanish: OLIVEROS. Flemish, Dutch: OLIVIER. .   Diminuitives-French: OLIVREAU. Italian: VIERIN(I), VIERUCCA. .   break .   As a reference to the first entry, VER 2. in which the medieval given name 'Ver' (Latin 'Verus')~ over e) which means ?true?, one must look at the motto of the VERE/DE VERE family in the creation of the Arms beginning sometime in the period of Rober DE VERE, third Earl of Oxford, in which the adopted motto was: ?Vero nihil verius? as used by De Vere, Hunt, Vere, Weir, Vere-Hope; and ?Vero nil Verius? as used by Vere which means ?Nothing turer than truth.??.cited from Fairbairns' ?Book of Crests?-page 567 (cf. SUBJECT: HERALDRY). .   It may be noted that the name GAIUS VERRES appeared as early as 70 B.C. in a speech by Cicero in which he condemned GAIUS VERRES, then Governor of Sicily, for embesselment of tax monies. .   break .   VERE (m) From a Norman surname which was from a French place name meaning alder (Gaulish). .   break .   VIER .   Not cited in this research was the word 'VIER' which is the German word for the number four (4) in the Germanic language. .   (Note: Checking many of the German church records, and records from England, the surname VIERS can be noted in its pure spelling as early as 1680 as noted in the ?International Genealogical Genealogical Index for the British Isles and for Germany-Index-2.16 (IGI) from the LDS Family History Library). .   Wurtz wrote in his ?Magna Carta? volumes: ?The family of de Vere, the noblest in England in indeed, as Englishmen love to say, 'the noblest in all Europe.' Derive their _title_ through an uniinterruped male dscent from a time when the Nevilles and Percys enjoyed only a local celebrity and when even the great name Platagenet had not yet been heard of in England? It is interesting to note that Wurtz gives a long list of names of persons who can claim descent from Baron Vere and King Egbert and in this list one does not find a Viers/Veirs/Via/ Vair/Vear, etc. Heraldic researchers claim that the Viers name has no connection with the Baron Vere and the deVere line of the Earls of Oxford. This is not to say that any one of the children, grandchildren, etc. in this line did not branch into the present Viers line. Only the direct line of the Earls of Oxford were set forth and not the multitude of sub-lines branching from this root. Of course, this is to protect the purity of the line of the Earls of Oxford, which deals only with the Earls and their marriages to other lines of Lord and Earl attachments (God forbid if a commoner would appear in the branches and sub-brances in this pedigree list). .   Researchers of the Viers name should look closely at Germany as a root, and then France, then to the British Isles and then to America, following closely the original Viers spelling for our root name. This track will reveal variants that match to the root name. The Dutch use a variant, which may lead in to the same path, with such names as De Viers, Vierling, etc. .   By using this form of research, I have been able to come up with some American Viers that I would not have found by the normal method of genealogy research.