DARVON FLEURY

French and English (of Norman origin): 1. from the medieval personal name Fleuri (Latin Florius, a derivative of the Roman family name Florus, from flos ‘flower’, genitive floris). This name was borne by a 3rd-century saint martyred in Nicomedia under the emperor Decius. There seems to have been some confusion with a Germanic personal name composed of the elements hlōd ‘fame’ + rīc ‘power’. 2. habitational name from any of the various places in northern France which get their names from the Gallo-Roman personal name Florus (see above) + the locative suffix -acum. 3. nickname from Old French fluri ‘flowered’, ‘variegated’ (a derivative of flur Flower). This could have denoted someone who dressed in an extravagant mixture of colors or perhaps one who had a blotchy complexion.