Loverock

Loverock One-Name Study

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Study details

Study: Loverock

Variants: Lavarack, Laverack, Laverick, Laverock, Leverick, Loverick

Category: 3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.

DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/public/Loverock

Contact: Mrs Barbara Harvey

About the study

Researching my own family tree led to a fascination with the surname of Loverock. The family story, according to several branches, is that Robert and Hannah were advised by the local schoolmaster in about 1800 to settle on Loverock as the spelling of their surname. Prior to that the family had been recorded with a wide variety of spellings. As far as is known, all living Loverocks are descended from this couple. Robert's grandfather also Robert married in Staffordshire in 1715, but it is still not known from whence he came. As a result the study has been widened to include all possible spellings.

Variant names

The most frequently found spelling is Laverick, which is mainly found in the North East of England, but the earliest record so far is in 1579 in Yorkshire. The next most frequent spelling is Laverack, which is based in Yorkshire, with the earliest record in 1589 in the same county. One of the interesting discoveries made while studying the censuses from 1841 to 1901 is that there was a tendency for Yorkshire Laveracks to become Laverick once they had migrated northwards. Loverock has been found in Derbyshire in 1599 and Laverock in Norfolk, Hampshire and Fife all around 1558. Further research needs to be undertaken to discover whether all the spellings come from the same source or whether there are multiple origins.

Recently, another possible spelling has been added to those studied. It is Leverock. At the moment it seems to be mostly in the West Indies and the USA. There is a cricketing family from Bermuda, but they are racially different.

Name origin

There are two contending suggestions as to the origin of the surname. Either it is derived from Leofric, earl of Mercia, whose wife, Lady Godiva, is probably better known! Or the name could have arisen from an ancestor who was a blithe singer from the medieval word for a Lark. There is no connection with Caerlaverock Castle in Dumfries, according to the present custodian. The castle was built by the Maxwells in 1215 and was owned by them until they recently "give it to the nation". The name of the castle means Lark's Nest.

Historical occurrences of the name

The name Laverok appears in the published list of those who came over to Britain with William the Conqueror, but not necessarily who fought at the Battle of Hastings.

Name frequency

The Office of National Statistics database contains a list of surnames in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Man in September 2002. There are: Laverick 2542, Laverack 620, Loverock 117, Laverock 71, Leverick 37, Liverick 18 and Lavarack 17. There were no other vowel changes found.

Distribution of the name

From the 1881 census the distribution is as follows:

Laverick - Durham 560, Northumberland 178, North Yorks 145, East & West Yorks 110, other counties 91

Laverack - Yorkshire (all ridings) 241, Middlesex 11, other counties 21

Laverock - Fife 31, counties on either side of Fife 27, Lancashire 17, Middlesex 11, others 21

Loverock - Staffordshire 37, Warwickshire 32, Derbyshire 10, Worcestershire 3, others 2

Leverick - Suffolk 13, Surrey 10, other 5

Liverick - Norfolk 11, Suffolk 8, Cumberland 6, others 4

Data

As many as possible of all the variants and misspellings have been recorded from the General Register Office for England and Wales, including military and overseas records, since 1837. This data can be found on the Guild Web Site

Probate entries have been recorded from the dioceses of York, Lichfield, Chester, the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and elsewhere since records began until 1858, when the probate records for England and Wales were centralised. After that date all references to all know spellings are being recorded.

There is an ever growing collection of records from various sources including censuses from 1841 to 1911 and parish registers. Many trees have been developed from submissions by and in cooperation with other researchers.

DNA

Please join the Loverock and variants DNA project at www.familytreedna.com/public/Loverock if you are a direct line male descendant.
Sorry ladies, we do not carry a copy of the Y-chromosome.

Contact Details

Mrs Barbara Harvey

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Loverock in the Guild Indexes

(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)

Global Marriages (public) 273
Global Marriages (members)* 312
Probate Index* 377
Datastores 741
References to the name Loverock in the Guild Journal 1

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