Havill is a habitual surname of Anglo-Norman origin. The family descends from

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

that originated in mainland

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and settled in England following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

. Historically, they have been most prevalent in the

South West of England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities an ...

, though several modern branches have emigrated to the United States and New Zealand.

History and etymology

The family is first recorded in the 1086

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, in which they are recorded holding large land grants in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and later in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. The name originates from several communes in the modern French region of

, including

Héauville Héauville () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. See also *Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 446 communes of the Manche department of France. The communes cooperate in the ...

in the

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.Hauville in the

Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.Hauteville-la-Guichard Hauteville-la-Guichard () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France (population: 425 in 2006). It is thought to be the original stronghold of the Hauteville family who made their fortunes in southern Italy and Sici ...

in the Manche department,Havill Family
aft. Norman Conquest which lend their name from Hialtt, a 10th-century Norseman who settled in the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

and founded the estate of ''Hialtus villa'', giving rise in corrupted form to the family toponymic ''Hauteville''.Hill, James S. The place-names of Somerset. St. Stephen's printing works, 1914, Princeton University. Page 256 The name represents the Scandinavian ''Hjalti'' or ''Hialti'', but may instead have resulted from confusion with the ''Helt s' found in ''Heltvilla'', modern

.''Les Noms des communes et anciennes paroisses de la Manche'', A. et J. Picard, préface Yves Nédélec, 1986, , oclc=15314425, p. 133 - 135" Alternatively, the eponymous Hiallt may be legendary: Hauteville (''Altavilla'') means simply "high estate". Much of the Havill family's early history is shared with the

Hauteville family The Hauteville ( it, Altavilla) was a Norman family originally of seigneurial rank from the Cotentin. The Hautevilles rose to prominence through their part in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. By 1130, one of their members, Roger II, was mad ...

, also of Normandy. It is found in every conceivable form in early registers, with Havill, Hautville, Hauvile, Hauvill, Hauville, Hauvyle, Havele, Havell, Havile, and Haville being the commonest. The ancient Norman

de Havilland family The de Havilland family is an Anglo-Norman family, belonging to landed gentry that originated from mainland Normandy and settled in Guernsey in the Middle Ages.Sir Bernard Burke, ''Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Brit ...

settled in

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

.Havil
on HouseOfNames Many modern Havills are descended from a small group of

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...

living in the

17th century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 ( MDCI), to December 31, 1700 ( MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by the Baroque cultural moveme ...

who bore the name, including John Havill (1595–1673) and Ellinor Beaton Churchill (1604–1661) of Muston Manor in

Piddlehinton Piddlehinton is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated in the Piddle valley north of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 403. Piddlehinton formerly constituted a liberty containing only the paris ...

Distribution

Today, the surname is most common in the United Kingdom and United States, with the highest density found in New Zealand. Within the United Kingdom, it is found predominantly in the

and

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

.Havill
on Forebears

Family members by birth

* Aaron Havill (born 1969), American music producer * Adrian Havill (born 1940), American author and journalist *

Andrew Havill Andrew Havill (born 1 June 1965) is an English actor. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the late 1980s, Havill has appeared in more than 40 films and 50 plays. After training in Oxford and London, he began his career in r ...

(born 1965), English actor * Clinton H. Havill (1892–1953), American naval officer and aerospace engineer *Lady Edith Kate Havill (1870–1946), wife of Sir Alfred Dyer (1865–1947) * Frederick Havill (1815–1884), English artist and portrait painter * Joan Havill, New Zealand pianist and professor *

Juanita Havill Juanita Havill (born 1949) is an American children's picture book author best known for the ''Jamaica'' books. She has also written a young adult novel, ''Eyes Like Willy's''. She was born in Evansville, Indiana and raised in Mount Carmel, Illinoi ...

(born 1949), American author * Philip Havill (1937), New Zealand first-class cricketer * Steven F. Havill, American author

Family members by marriage

* Sir Alfred Dyer (1865–1947), British newspaper editor, politician, and company director * Anthony Herschel Hill (1939–2016), English composer, musician, and professor of music

References

{{surname, Havill Havill family Families of French ancestry Anglo-Norman families Italo-Norman families