This unusual 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 modern surname is from the two compounds 'sae' meaning 'sea' and 'beorht' - bright, a warriors name. The development as recorded includes many unusual spellings. These include Jean Sebire, christened at Spitalfields Huguenot Church on February 15th 1713. Anthony Sebrens who married Emma Kemp at St. Ann's Soho in 1870 and John Sebring who was christened at St. Stephens, Saltash on February 21st 1762. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Katherine Sebrincke, which was dated 1608, married Roger Cornes at St. James, Clerkenwell, during the reign of King James I of England and VI of Scotland, 1603 - 1625. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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