Origin of Surname
The name is of English origin and is either a locational name from places so called in many parts of England, or a topographical name for someone dwelling in a valley, both deriving from the Middle English "dene" (Old English denu) meaning 'valley'. It may also be a nickname for someone thought to resemble a dean, or more probably an occupational name for a servant of a dean, deriving from the Middle English deen which is a borrowing of the Old French D(e)ien, itself coming from the Latin decanus, meaning 'a leader of ten men'.
Early records
Edemond Dean, the earliest known member of a prominent St Brelade family, is thought to have gone from England to St Malo in the late 16th century, his son Jean later settling in Jersey.
The question as to whether the Dean and Deans families of Jersey had a common ancestor or were entirely distinct, naturally arises, given the various insular spellings of the surname. In fact, most Jersey surnames were formerly spelt in numerous ways, the Dean family being no exception. However, "Carteret Deans" who married in 1665 Elizabeth Guilleaume, is easily identifiable as the father of "Mr Carteret Dean", who was buried in St Brelade in 1738. The latter had, amongst other issue, "Mr Jean D`Ean", otherwise known as Captain Jean Dean. It may not have helped that the family had only lived in Jersey, at that time, about five generations! It is, though, one family, with a common descent.
Variants
- Deane
- Deans
- Deanes
- Le Dean 1607
- Dean 1299
- Le Denne 1607
- Dynne
- Dyarine 1479
- Dyanne 1309
- Le Dene, 1292
- Le Desne 1299
Family records
Family trees
Family histories
- The Dean family of St Brelade, a history by Roland de Caen
Church records
- Dean baptisms in Jersey
- Dean marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Dean marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Dean burials in Jersey
Great War service
Notes on our list, abbreviations used etc
Mother and son
- Jessie Deans (1871- ) (Manchester), living in Jersey, British Red Cross
- Sidney Carswell Deans (1899- ) (Gr) son of Charles and Jessie, OV, Mercantile Marine
Family wills
Burial records
Family photograph album
Alice Deane
Kate Deane
Peter and Andree Dean, nee Graham, on their wedding day in June 1952. Both were born in England and moved to Jersey after World War 2, and died in the island in 1991 and 2000 respectively
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Family businesses
1931 advert
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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