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Graves Family History

This interesting name is a patronymic form of the surnames Grave, which is of Middle English origin, and is an occupational name for a steward, from the Middle English (1200 - 1500) "greyve", itself derived from the Old Norse "greifi" and the Low German "greve". Grave was first used as a personal name, and the development of the name as such includes: Lefsi filius Greiue (1161 - 1177, Norfolk), Adam filius Graiue (1221, Cambridgeshire) and Greive de Pincebec (1232, Lincolnshire). The first recording of the patronymic form is of one Hugo Graves, in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in 1540.