12,640 Global AYRES Family Members

AYRES Family History

This long-established surname is of early medieval English origin, and has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation. Firstly, Ayres may be a patronymic form of "Ayre", itself a nickname for a man who was well known to be the heir to a title or fortune, deriving from the Middle English "eir, eyr", heir (Old French "(h)eir", Latin "heres", heir). One Ralph le Eir was noted in the 1208 Feet of Fines for Essex, and a Richard le Heyre appears in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Gloucestershire. The second possibility is that Ayres is a patronymic form of the Middle English personal name "Aier, Aer", itself coming from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Ealhhere", a compound of the elements "eal(h)", old, and "heri", army...