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Herve was a minstrel of ancient Brittany. His name, which means "battle-worthy", was introduced into England perhaps in legend or in song at the time of the Conquest. The first English census was ordered by William the Conqueror in 1086 and the names of the citizens were recorded in what is known as the Doomsday Book. Both a Herveus and a Herueu de Berruarius appear in the book of that year. The name of William Hervi or Herevi is recorded on the Kalendar of Abbot Samson in 1190 and again on the Curia Regis rolls of Suffolk in 1196. The vowel "a" found in the eastern regions of England is often replaced by an "e" in the west.

William Harvey (1578-1657), was the English physician who discovered the circulation of the blood. It may seem incredible that the circulatory system could have remained undiscovered until the 17th century. Much earlier, even as early as Homer or Plato, men realized that the blood was not stagnant in the body, but they imagined some sort of irregular movement, similar to the stop and go circulation of city traffic. They realized that the heart beat, but they attributed this to an expansion of the spirits which it contained. It was William Harvey who first realized that the heart was the motor power of the blood and that the circulation of the blood was regular and continuous. (See encyclopaedic references of William Harvey.)

The Harvey name can also be found in Scotland and parts of Ireland. It is, however, nearly always of English origin. In Ireland, it is found predominantly in the province of Ulster, which was settled by English Protestants. There is a small Irish sept in County Galway, whose Gaelic name of O'hAirmheadhaigh has been Anglicized to Harvey.

The Harvey name arrived in America long before the Revolution. In 1636, Thomas and William Harvey, originally of Somerset, England, were recorded in the annals of Dorcester, Mass. The coat of arms granted to this branch of the Harvey Family is blazoned: "Sable, a fesse or, between three squirrels sejant argent, cracking nuts of the second."

Source: A newspaper clipping sited in Harvey Connection
Compiled by Mary Lou Dawson