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I'm still curious about my surname, since I can never get to a conclusive answer. My grandfather (the bearer of Ivars, Gilbert Ivars) always said to my mother that we descend from vikings, and he is French. Then I did little search some years ago and found houseofnames.com, which said that Ivars was first found in Normandy (an area colonized by norsemen in France). That seemed to confirm my grandfather's history.
But, Ivars also means "Valley" in Basque, and is a Basque surname. And the Basque country is located between Spain and France.
So, I want to know the origin of nordic/french Ivars, since I already know about the basque one, and houseofnames seems to be wrong. (http://houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&s=ivars) All Ivars that I found are located in swedish-speaking areas of Finland, if that could help.
The closer I got to Ivars in the internet was Ívars, which is a genitive form of Ívar, an Icelandic an Faorese name. (http://www.nordicnames.de/pojk_i/Ivar.html)
Ivars can still be found today in swedish-speaking areas of Finland, since there is young people with it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Ivars) The nordic Ivars should mean "of Ivar", which would mean "of Bow Warrior (Archer)".
So, can you help me out? I want to know where it originated, or in which places it were common. And forgive my english and big post.
But, Ivars also means "Valley" in Basque, and is a Basque surname. And the Basque country is located between Spain and France.
So, I want to know the origin of nordic/french Ivars, since I already know about the basque one, and houseofnames seems to be wrong. (http://houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&s=ivars) All Ivars that I found are located in swedish-speaking areas of Finland, if that could help.
The closer I got to Ivars in the internet was Ívars, which is a genitive form of Ívar, an Icelandic an Faorese name. (http://www.nordicnames.de/pojk_i/Ivar.html)
Ivars can still be found today in swedish-speaking areas of Finland, since there is young people with it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Ivars) The nordic Ivars should mean "of Ivar", which would mean "of Bow Warrior (Archer)".
So, can you help me out? I want to know where it originated, or in which places it were common. And forgive my english and big post.
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Replies
Ivars is actually a Spanish surname as you will observe at http://www.infobel.com/en/spain/. It's found mainly around Valencia and comes from the placename Ivars which you can situate at http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=ES&addtohistory=&address=&city=ivars&zipcode=. As you mentioned, it's thought to have a Basque origin, namely ibar 'bank, shore, valley'. If you go to http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?numero=0056226&periode=1, you'll see that there was a migration to France in the 19th century and that the name is quite common there now.
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But there is also a nordic surname, and that is known fact.
http://www.sturmunddrang.fi/index.php?page=alex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann-Marie_Ivars
And, as I mentione before, there is Ívars in Iceland and the Faroese Islands. Plus, HouseOfNames.com account, which says that it was firts found in Normandy, which it's far from the Basque country.
It seems virtually impossible that all these Ivars are of Basque origin.
http://www.sturmunddrang.fi/index.php?page=alex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann-Marie_Ivars
And, as I mentione before, there is Ívars in Iceland and the Faroese Islands. Plus, HouseOfNames.com account, which says that it was firts found in Normandy, which it's far from the Basque country.
It seems virtually impossible that all these Ivars are of Basque origin.
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I didn't mean to imply that Ivars didn't also have a Scandinavian origin. It's just one of those cases where the same form can have two or more different etymologies. I focused on the Spanish form because you didn't mention this in your original query. Most of the facts you cited about the Scandinavian Ivars are correct as far as I can tell. The name is related to English Ivers which Hanks & Hodges (A Dictionary of Surnames) derive from Old Norse Ivarr which is "of uncertain origin, probably from iw, yew, bow and herr, army." If the name was once found in Normandy, it's because some Vikings brought it there, not because it has a French origin.
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Thank you. If anyone has more information on "any" Ivars, please, post here. And sorry if I sounded rude, Marc.
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Ivars is also a Latvian first name... However, that's just Latvian version of "Ivar", Latvian masculine names always end with "s". But it's very well possible that all the Scandinavian Ivarses are simply derived from the first name Ivar.
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