Recorded in several forms including Cave, Caver, Cavers, Caves, Cavier, and even Cawver, this is a surname of Anglo-French origins. It does not appear to have described a cave dweller, although this is possible. If English the origin is almost certainly locational from a place called Cave in the county of East Yorkshire, the spelling as Caves meaning "of Cave". This village was first recorded as Cava in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and this spelling and pronunciation may have decided the later spellings of Carver or Cawver. The place name is from the Old English pre 7th century word "cafe", meaning fast flowing or quick, and referred to a river in the area. The second possible derivation is from the Norman-French medieval nickname surname Chauf or Cauf. This is derived from the Latin word "calvus", and was used to describe a bald person. The surname is recorded as Roger le Cauf, in the Curia Regis rolls of Cornwall in 1214. Richard Cave was an early emigrant to the New England colonies of America. He left London on the ship "Bonaventure" in January 1634, bound for Virginia, whilst Jana Cavers married Andreas Grover at St Martin in the Field, westminster, on July 16th 1646. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nigel de Cava. This was dated 1185, in the records of the Knight Templars of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 11nd of England, 1154 - 1189. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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