Origin of Surname
English sources suggest that this name is Norse-Viking in origin but may well have entered Britain from the Netherlands or Flanders in the late medieval period. The derivation of the name is from sae meaning sea and beorht - bright, a warrior's name. The development as recorded includes many unusual spellings. The first record of the name is that of Katherine Sebrincke, which was dated 1608.
However, the name was known in Jersey 300 years earlier than this, and in Normandy a further century back in 1198, so we prefer the suggestion that it originated as a female personal name, from the same root as Sybil, Sebile and Sibile. French sources prefer this explanation, stating that the name is peculiar to Normandy.
Sébire is still quite a common family name in Normandy today, and is also present in Jersey.
Early records
Perrotine Sebire was born in Jersey about 1466 and married Cardin Baudains in St Martin in 1487. She was the daughter of Jean Sebire, thought to have been born in St Martin about 1434.
The earliest Sebire baptism records are in Trinity in 1688-89, but the family, which has never been very numerous, was present in St Helier, St Peter, St John and St Saviour for the next two centuries. It is still present today.
From the late 17th century onwards Sebire was much more common in Guernsey than in Jersey, and may have originated with a Huguenot refugee. However, the name originally appeared much earlier in Jersey.
Variants
- Sébire, 1299
- Sabire, 1299
- Sbire
- Sebring: it is doubtful that this name and variants are related to Sebire
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Sebire baptisms in Jersey
- Sebire marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Sebire marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Sebire burials in Jersey
Great War service
- George Larbalestier Sebire (1891- ) (St H) son of Helier James and Louisa Alice Larbalestier, Chaplain
- Percival Sebire (1889- ) (St H) son of Nicholas John and Jane Susan Mollet, Bombardier RGA
- Reginald Sebire (1888- ) (St H) son of Nicholas John and Jane Susan Mollet, to Canada
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Sebire family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1980, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- Anne Sebire of Swiss Cottage, Longueville, St Saviour, widow of Charles Payn - 14 January 1901, D/Y/A/60
- Charles Sebire of France, now of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of St Helier, £16 of the order of the King 12 January 1804 - D/Y/A/16
- Ethel Sebire of Coniston, Oxford Road, St Helier - 18 February 1948, D/Y/A/119
- George Sebire - 20 April 1867, D/Y/A/33
- George Sebire of St Peter, Captain of a ship for long voyages 24 August 1852 - D/Y/A/27
- Helier Sebire of St Helier - 7 January 1892, D/Y/A/51
- Jeanne Sebire of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of St Helier, £50 tournois of the order of the King 12 March 1788 - D/Y/A/14
- Josué Sebire of St Peter, now of St Helier, desires to be buried in St Peter's Cemetery, bequeaths to the poor of St Peter, 3 livres of old French currency, and to the poor of St Helier, 3 livres of the same currency 8 April 1843 - D/Y/A/25
- Pierre Sebire of St Saviour, now of St Helier, desires to be buried in St Helier's Cemetery, bequeaths to the poor of St Helier, 10s 11 July 1851 - D/Y/A/27
- Simon Sebirell 27 January 1668 - D/Y/A/1
- Susan Sebire of 50 King Street, St Helier, spinster - 1 May 1886, D/Y/A/45
- Susanne Sebire of St Helier, bequeaths to the poor of the parish in which she dies, £20 tournois of the order of the King 5 May 1803 - D/Y/A/16
Burial records
Family businesses
- P Sebire was listed in a 1843 Jersey Almanac as a silversmith, jeweller and watchmaker at Charing Cross. This was probably Pierre Sebire, born in 1801 in St Saviour, the son of Pierre and Marguerite Mauger. There is also an A P Sebire listed in 1834 as a watchmaker at 4 Broad Street. There is no record of the baptism of a male Sebire with forenames beginning A P, and we believe that this may be the same Pierre.
- Helier Sebire was a shoemaker at 65 King Street in 1851
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
Almorah cemetery
Surville Cemetery
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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