Avery surname meaning

Avery is an English surname from the Middle English and Anglo-Norman French personal name Aevery, a Norman form of Alfred (“elf counsel”). The given name became a hereditary surname in England and was carried to New England; Puritan clerks sometimes confused it with Averill. DAFN also notes an altered form of French-Canadian Hévey among some North American lines. Averett, Averitt, and Avey are related spellings. Parent’s name is high confidence for the Alfred/Aevery personal-name path that dictionary sources treat as primary, with the French-Canadian alteration as a minority stream rather than a rival etymology for most Avery families.