Origin of the Name Travers
The
Travers family history was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name Travers
include Traver, Trower, Travis and Traviss. This is a locality name meaning 'of the crossway', from a residence near a crossway or a place where roads met. This name is usually of English descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in that country. Examples of such are a Hugh Travers of County Lincolnshire and a Nigel Travers of County Buckinghamshire who were recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England, in the year 1273. Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired lands by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. In Ireland the names Traver, Travers and Trower are often derived from the Gaelic O'Treabhair Sept, meaning 'skilful'. These names are mostly found in the County Leitrim area as well as in Ulster Province.
The Travers coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Travers descendants.