The ancient Chronicles of England reveal the early records of the surname as being Norman and ranking as one of the oldest.
It derives from the town or village of FOURNIVAL in the Departement of Oise in Picardie, being situated just north-east of Beauvais and north of Paris.The location of Beauvais is shown in map below.
Map above shows location of FOURNIVAL in relation to Beauvais.
Believed to be a view of Fournival late19th/early 20th century. The countryside around Fournival.
A number of variations of the spelling of the surname have been encountered including the following :-
FURNIVAL(L), FURNEVAL(L) , FURNIFALL, FURNIFULL, FURNAVALL, FOURNEVALL and FURNYVALL
There are no doubt many more variations including changing the second letter from U to E. These spelling changes occurred frequently even from father to son as scribes recorded and spelled the name as it sounded. A person could be born with one surname, married with another and have another on their headstone. Such variations could be the result of branch preference, religious affiliation or even nationalistic statements.