The story
- Old English · derived fromscræfen“hollow place with caves or pits”
- Old French · derived fromescrivain
- Middle English · derived fromscrivein“scribe”
- English todayScriven
Two possible origins for the surname: * English occupational surname for a scribe copyist or clerk, from Middle English scrivein (“scribe”), itself from Old French escrivain. * English habitational surname from the village in North Yorkshire, which is named with Old English scræfen (“hollow place with caves or pits”).
Words from the same roots
Old Frenchescrivain all →
scrivener
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.