d'Anvers, d'Alvers, Talemasche, de Warwick Ancestry

Historians tell us that Danvers is a toponym, from the town of Anvers. Anvers, however, is the French name for Antwerp. As a follower of William the Conqueror it is not likely that Roland's family was from Antwerp. There is a suburb of Paris known as Alvers-sur-Oise, which might have given Roland the descriptive name of "d'Alvers." One source gives him a birthplace of Plouigneau, Brittany, France. Most likely, however, is that Roland came from Normandy. There were several villages in France at the time of the Conquest called Auvers. The name de Alvers appears on the Battle Rolls, including a Robert who received property from William at Northampton. The exact relationship between Robert and Roland has never been proven, but they might have been brothers.

A note about names: The earliest spellings of the name Danvers include d'Anvers, de Aluers, d'Alvers, de Alvers, d'Anverso and d'Alvereux. Surnames in this era were more often descriptive names and spellings were not standardized. I have chosen to use d'Alvers for Roland and his children, switching to d'Anvers when I find in texts, and to Danvers for those born in the 14th century, unless the other form is clearly shown in reference texts.

Maria Edmonds-Zediker, Volunteer Curator at Geni, May 26, 2013
Source: Geni.com

Additional source: Memorials of the Danvers family (of Dauntsey and Culworth): their ancestors and descendants from the conquest till the termination of the eighteenth century; with some account of the alliances of the family and of the places, where they were seated by Francis Nottidge Macnamara, 1831-1899, Published 1895.