TODAY, there are many Leveretts  —  in England, elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and abroad, but in the 1891 census for England there were only some 650 Leveretts recorded: 129 in Norfolk (about 20% of the total), 81 (about 13%) in Suffolk, 190 (about 30%) in London, 46 (about 7%) in Middlesex, and a spread of between about 1% and 5% in most of the English eastern counties.

There are Leverett families in the United States of America (USA) — predominantly in Texas and Georgia (according to their 1920 censuses) — and there is a town of Leverett in Massachusetts, and a Leverett elementary school in Arizona. Leveretts can also be found in Canada, Australia, and in New Zealand, amongst other locations around the globe. One of my late uncles, David Leverett, undertook extensive research into the Leverett name, finding several records dating back to 1541 in London, and in Boston (Lincolnshire, England) with Leveretts who emigrated to the American colonies in the 1630s. He also found Leverett references to Harvard

University from the 17th and 18th centuries — and a Leverett House there.  

ORIGINS OF THE NAME 'LEVERETT'

Surnames are a relatively recent phenomenon in human social history, and their spellings can vary significantly. Names were typically descriptive in origin: of a location, a physical feature (of the body or personal characteristic), occupation, a person-ality characteristic, and so on. As these descriptions were handed down over generations (as forenames or personal names — sometimes referred to as 'Christian' names; or surnames — or family names), their original associations would become (more or less) obscure. The spelling 'Leverett' will have derived from any or more of the following over the centuries: Levret (1086), Luuered (1221), Leverot (1224), and later, Luverit (1770). Today there are many possible variations, Leveritt, Everett, Everitt, and so on — although whether they emanate from a common source is uncertain. One of the earliest recordings of the name

variant is Leofric in the Domesday Book — back to 1086.  This leads us on to explore the meaning of the name 'Leverett' further. The name has several possible origins: first, as a diminutive (an endearment) of the Norman 'Levre', as a nickname given either to a 'fleet footed' runner, or to one who hunted the hare for a living; secondly, an OE pre-9th century term for one who lived at the laefer, an area thickly overgrown with rushes or reeds. A third possibility is also of OE origin and is one of the many developed forms of the popular baptismal compound 'Leof-Raed' (Lēofraed), which translates literally as 'beloved counsel'. Note also the name of a village some forty miles to the west of Cockley Cley (just beyond Wisbech): Leverington='the TUN of Leofhere's people'.

Bardolph — not far from Cockley Cley (q.v.) — who had marriage banns published in 1770. Now this takes us neatly to the Leveretts of Cockley Cley … read on!