Origin of Surname
Fauvel means tawny; so it may be a name for someone with tawny hair. It also means a fallow deer, so it may be an animal nickname. And there is a third possibility. One of the favourite tales of the Middle Ages was the Roman de Fauvel, the story of a chestnut horse which tricked everybody; so the name was often given to an artful dodger.
The spelling Fauvel is most common in Normandy, with Fauveaux and Fauvelle found in Picardy.
Early records
The name is long established in Jersey, appearing in the Assize Roll of 1309. The Fauvel family first appears in church records in Grouville and St Clement in the east of the island in the early 17th century, but the name is found in records as early as 1299.
This was a large family and 465 baptisms are recorded in church records up to 1842.
- Johan Fauvel is listed in the Jersey Chantry Certificate of 1550
- Richard Fauvel was born in Grouville about 1572 and married Suzanne Amy, the daughter of Francois Amy and Marie Lempriere, in 1596.
- Richard Fauvel, son of Richard, owned in 1618 the Fief de la Carriere, in Grouville. The fief had formerly been called the Fief des Monts, being situated at the foot of the range of hills or Monts, in Grouville, as seen from the west. His family home thus received from the fief the name La Carriere. The fief was still held by his descendants in the early 19th century
- Michel Fauvel (1668-1748) m Sara de Quetteville (1668- ) d of Jean and Sara Dumaresq. They had a daughter Anne (1706- ) who married Philippe Messervy (1707- )
- Francis Fauvel (1682- ) married Mary Amy (1672- ) d of Jean and Elizabeth Collas
- Jean Fauvel (1608-1641) St Clement m Elizabeth Payn (1602-1639). They had sons Richard (1624- ) and Clement (1627- ). Jean's brother Matthieu (1610-1653) m Elizabeth Becquet
Variants
- Fauvel, 1299
- Fauvell 1607
- Fauvelle
- Fauveaux
- Fauwell 1528
- Favel 1309
Family records
Family trees
- Descendants of John Fauvel
- Descendants of Clement Fauvel
- Descendants of Richard Fauvel
- Descendants of Abraham Fauvel
- Descendants of Henry Fauvel
- Descendants of Richard Fauvel and Susanne
- Descendants of Richard Fauvel - 2 Added 2020
Church records
- Fauvel baptisms in Jersey
- Fauvel marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Fauvel marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Fauvel burials in Jersey
Newspaper records
Great War service
Occupation records
Family wills
Burial records
Prominent family members
- Francois Fauvel was Rector of St Clement from 1822-26
Family homes
- Val Feuillu Farm, St Saviour
- Brookvale Farm, St Martin
- Le Picachon, St Martin
Family photographs

Click on any image to see the full-size version
Family businesses
- Philip Fauvel was a wine and spirits merchant at 35 Queen Street in the 1850s
- Henry Fauvel was a printer and newspaper publisher at 13 Broad Street in the 1850s
1873 advert for the Don Street livery stables run by Alfred John Fauvel, the son of Jean Fauvel and Betsey Le Jeune. His father was a master mariner and ship builder at Gorey
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
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New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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Notes and references
- ↑ Probably, because he was a witness