Avery (surname)

Avery is an English surname of ambiguous origin. Some scholars believe that the name is of Anglo-Norman origin and derived from "Every" or "Evreux". The name may have arrived in England after the Norman Conquest. It is the name of a county in Normandy. It can also be found in the northern Spanish region of Navarra, where the House of Évreux was a ruling royal house from 1328 to 1441. At the time of the British Census of 1881 [1], its frequency was highest in Devon (5.9 times the British average), followed by Sussex, Buckinghamshire, Rutland, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Warwickshire, Cornwall and Somerset.

In acting:

• Brian Avery, American actor known for playing Carl Smith in The Graduate
• James L. Avery, Sr., American actor known for playing "Uncle Phil" on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• Margaret Avery, American singer and actress
• Phyllis Avery, American actress
• Shondrella Avery, American actress
• Stephen Morehouse Avery, screenwriter

In science:

• John Scales Avery, theoretical chemist and peace activist
• Oswald Avery, physician and scientist

In music:

• Brad Avery, guitarist for the Christian rock band Third Day
• Eric Avery, original bass player for Jane's Addiction

In law:

• Brian Avery, former volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement
• John Keith Avery, the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police from 1984 to 1991
• Steven Avery, the first person in the U.S. to be charged with a homicide after being exonerated by DNA evidence for a previous crime

In activism:

• Byllye Avery, American health care activist
• Greg Avery, British animal rights activist and co-founder of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
• Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association during the late 19th century

In politics:

• Ephraim Kingsbury Avery, Methodist minister accused of the 1832 murder of Sarah Cornell and acquitted in 1833 for lack of evidence
• Isaac E. Avery, grandson of Waightstill Avery and a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War
• John Avery, physician and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan
• Waightstill Avery, North Carolina's first Attorney General and colonel during the American Revolutionary War
• William H. Avery (1911-2009), former Governor of Kansas

In literature:

• Fiona Avery, comic book and television writer
• Gillian Avery, British children’s writer and scholar
• Harold Avery, British author of children's literature
• Tom Avery, explorer, mountaineer, author and motivational speaker
• Valeen Tippetts Avery, American biographer and historian known for her work on American Old West and Latter Day Saint history

In sports:

• Albert Avery, English rugby league footballer
• John Avery, professional Canadian football player
• Sean Avery, professional hockey player
• Steve Avery, former Major League Baseball pitcher
• William Avery, professional basketball player

In artistry:

• Milton Avery, American painter whose works specialize in American Modernism
• Tex Avery, animator and director; creator of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck

In fiction:

• Shug Avery, one of the main characters in the 1983 novel The Color Purple
• Bree Avery, the protagonist of the popular lonelygirl15 Internet video series
• Rupert Avery, a main character in The Serpentwar Saga

In other fields:

• Clarence W. Avery, an early engineer at Ford Motor Company
• Cyrus Avery, the "Father of Route 66"
• Henry Every (or Avery), 17th century pirate
• James Avery, Union Navy seaman and recipient of the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War
• Peter Avery, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge
• R. Stanton Avery, founder of Avery Dennison Corporation and namesake of Caltech's Avery House
• William H. Avery, aeronautics engineer

See also

• Every (surname)

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