About us
Membership
Formal membership in this project is open to all men of surnames Paver, Peever, or any names of the form P_v_r_(s), where the blanks may be filled in with any combination of vowels, including "y"s. Recognized surnames of this class include also Peaver, Peover, and Paiver/Pavier (but not Peavey, Peverel, Pavely for which there is a separate FTDNA project). Others are welcome to join whose test results closely match to a tested member, preferably based on the FTDNA 37-marker test or better.
People with these surnames who have ySTR test results from companies other than FTDNA are also welcome as members of this project on request, although their test results will not be automatically posted to this site. A more comprehensive website for the project which will accomodate them is in preparation.
Non-tested sponsors of tests for members, or genealogists interested in these surname are also encouraged to participate, and in fact this project essentially exists for those who desire to be active participants, whether they be formal (tested) members, or not.
The Surnames
These P_v_r surnames, and their spelling variants, are all quite rare, and hardly come up on the screens of surname dictionaries. A canvass of the IGI, of the US and UKCensuses, and my own extensive experience researching several of these surnames suggest that the names listed above and their variants divide into at least three unrelated surname classes: the Pavers, principally of Yorkshire, the Peevers (whose surname probably derives from Old French "peyvrier", for pepper or spice merchant) and those whose surnames derive from the locative (place) name of Peover, a set of townships and chalpelries in the ancient parishes of Great Budworth and Rostherne in Cheshire.
Many of these surname patrilineages, whatever their original provenance, have drifted over into different, but soundalike, spelling classes such that the only practical way to sort them out may be through genetic ySTR testing. By the same token, because these names are so rare, and therefore probably well-researched, DNA testing is likely to be especially effective in thus sorting them out.
Formal membership in this project is open to all men of surnames Paver, Peever, or any names of the form P_v_r_(s), where the blanks may be filled in with any combination of vowels, including "y"s. Recognized surnames of this class include also Peaver, Peover, and Paiver/Pavier (but not Peavey, Peverel, Pavely for which there is a separate FTDNA project). Others are welcome to join whose test results closely match to a tested member, preferably based on the FTDNA 37-marker test or better.
People with these surnames who have ySTR test results from companies other than FTDNA are also welcome as members of this project on request, although their test results will not be automatically posted to this site. A more comprehensive website for the project which will accomodate them is in preparation.
Non-tested sponsors of tests for members, or genealogists interested in these surname are also encouraged to participate, and in fact this project essentially exists for those who desire to be active participants, whether they be formal (tested) members, or not.
The Surnames
These P_v_r surnames, and their spelling variants, are all quite rare, and hardly come up on the screens of surname dictionaries. A canvass of the IGI, of the US and UKCensuses, and my own extensive experience researching several of these surnames suggest that the names listed above and their variants divide into at least three unrelated surname classes: the Pavers, principally of Yorkshire, the Peevers (whose surname probably derives from Old French "peyvrier", for pepper or spice merchant) and those whose surnames derive from the locative (place) name of Peover, a set of townships and chalpelries in the ancient parishes of Great Budworth and Rostherne in Cheshire.
Many of these surname patrilineages, whatever their original provenance, have drifted over into different, but soundalike, spelling classes such that the only practical way to sort them out may be through genetic ySTR testing. By the same token, because these names are so rare, and therefore probably well-researched, DNA testing is likely to be especially effective in thus sorting them out.