Place Name
Not named after the bird but in fact meaning Raf’s manor, it comes from the Middle English word burh meaning manor house, and a continental personal name: Raf, Ralf or Radulfus. The name first emerged sometime around 1220 as Ravesbury before mutating into Rasebery in 1377; within a century it was closer to its modern spelling as Ravenesbury then sometime around 1580, chroniclers hedged their bets writing it as Ravisbury al. Ravensbury. The mutation to Ravens was probably due in part to popular etymology.
