Strevig is an Anglicized rendering of the German family name Strevike, which is classified as being of nickname origin.  Surnames which are derived from a nickname are said to constitute one of the widest and most varied classes of family names.  This particular category encompasses many different types of origin.  The most obvious are those names which are based on a physical characteristic or personal attribute of the initial bearer.  In this particular instance, the surname Strevike, and therefore Strevig, was derived from the Middle Low German word “stref,” which many be translated as “stiff,” “formal” or “strict.”  Hence, the initial bearer of the nickname would have been a person of a remarkably reserved and severe demeanor.

One of the earliest references to this name or to a variant is a record of one Lencke Streve, who married Johan Rodenburg on the 24^th of April 1682, in Wewelsfleih, Schleswig-Holstein.  Later records show this surname in Scandinavia during the nineteenth century:  Documented in Larvik, Norway we find the birth of Marie Strevig, which took place on the 23d of October 1834; later in life, she married a man by the name of Christian Olaus Stabel.  The surname Strevig also first appears in North America during the early nineteenth century.  We find it recorded, among other instances, on the occasion of Henry B. Strevig’s birth in Manchester, Maryland on the 14^th day of October 1825.  Research, however, is of course ongoing and this surname may have been documented earlier than the dates mentioned above.  The earliest German surnames, those dating from the twelfth century, are frequently found in their Latin form.  Indeed, one such name is recorded in manuscripts compiled in the city of Kuln (Colonge) for the year 1135, which makes it one of the earliest of German surnames on record.

Blazon of Arms:  Per pale; first azure, issuing from the partition, a lion rampant or; second gules, issuing from the partition a fleur-de-lis argent.

Crescent:  The lion of the first.

Origin:  Germany