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, its frequency was highest in Devon (5.9 times the British average), followed by Sussex, Buckinghamshire, Rutland, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Kent, Warwickshire, Cornwall and Somerset.
Notable people with the surname include:
In acting:
James L. Avery, Sr., American actor known for playing "Uncle Phil" on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Margaret Avery, American singer and actress
Patricia Avery (1902–1973), American silent film actress
Phyllis Avery, American actress
Shondrella Avery, American actress
Stephen Morehouse Avery, screenwriter
In science and engineering:
Clarence W. Avery, an early engineer at Ford Motor Company
John Scales Avery, theoretical chemist and peace activist
Oswald Avery, physician and scientist
William H. Avery, aeronautics engineer
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
Jack Avery, the former Attorney General of the Guam
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:
Carlos Avery (1868-1930), Minnesota newspaper publisher and politician
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
Ryan Avery, former professional lacrosse player
Sean Avery, professional hockey player
Steve Avery, former Major League Baseball pitcher
William Avery, professional basketball player
Xavier Avery (born 1990), American baseball 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
Avery, a minor Death Eater in the Harry Potter series.
In other fields:
Bryan Avery, British architect
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
Sewell Avery, U.S. businessman
