1,685 Global IVAN Family Members

IVAN Family History

This interesting and unusual surname is of French origin, and is a patronymic, adopted from any of the various Germanic compound names with the first element "iv", "eibe", yew, bow (a weapon generally made from the supple wood of a yew tree). The popularity of these names is borne out by the number of surnames they generated, for example: in England, Ive and Ivey; in France, Erb(e), Erbain, Yve(s), Yvon, Yven and Iva(i)n; and in Italy Ivi and Ivone. The surname may also derive from the Germanic "erbe", inheritance, heir, and would have been a nickname given to the heir of a big estate, or to one who inherited riches...