The Roman (Latin) word "ferrariae", a derivative of "ferrum", meaning iron, is the origination of this very rare Spanish surname. The name means one who worked with iron, or who mined the ironstone. There are many variant spellings ranging from Ferri, Ferrari, Ferrettino (Italian), to Farrar or Ferry (British), Feria or Herrara (Spanish). In France nameholders tend to derive from various places in Normandy called "Ferrieres", and this was the source of the Ferrers family in England, the original Dukes of Derby from circa 1230 A.D. The name recordings as Feria (below) suggest a possible Huguenot origin; however, to add to the confusion, the name is recorded heraldically in Spain as "the Counts of Feria", from Cordova. The examples include: Frederico Ruiz Feria, who married Maria De Los Dolores Jimenez Mena, at Cadiz Cathedral, Cadiz, on December 28th 1874, two days before Alphonso X11 was declared King of Spain. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Timothy Feria, which was dated September 7th 1706, marriage to Margaret Goddard, at Little Ilford Church, Essex, during the reign of Queen Anne, known as "The Last Stuart Monarch", 1702 - 1714. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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