Dictionary of Family Names

DEVEREUX.   (French)   The noble English name of Devreux, the patronymic of the Viscount of Hereford, was derived from the town of Evreux in Normandy.   Dugdale, in his "Baronetage," observes:—"Of this family, which had their surname from Evreux, a town of note in Normandy, there were divers generations here in England, before they became peers of the realm."   And Mr. John Gough Nicholls, in his Notes to the "History of Lacock Abbey," by the Rev. W. L. Bowles, on this statement judiciously remarks:—"On the first application of surnames, large towns gave a distinctive appellative to several persons wholly unconnected with one another in blood,—to any man, in short, who left one of them to reside elsewhere, not having otherwise acquired a personal surname; and it would be as reasonable to suppose that all persons bearing the names of English cities, have descended from the Earls of those cities (for which supposition there is not the slightest ground) as to conclude that the family of Devereux were necessarily descended from the Counts of Evreux.   The genealogists of the house of Devreux may concede this fact to the force of historical truth, without detracting at all from the high antiquity, and scarcely from the high nobility, of a name which is certainly one of the proudest in the annals of England."—from Genealogy and Surnames, by William Anderson, 1865.   Also D'Evereux.