Who is the oldest Gravel in the ancestral line of the name Gravel or Graval?

Question:

Who is the oldest Gravel in the ancestral line of the name Gravel or Graval?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: In France, I can get the earliest record from 1410 online...probably another 100 years available from the Duchy of Brabant before that.

In the Netherlands, I can find records back to 1383 from their databases. Searching the regional archives, I can probably pull another generation or two without lots of work.

The problem you have is that you don't know that you're actually related to any of these lines. You don't even mention if you're French, Dutch or Quebecois. They're all separate lines, so there's no way of linking the generic name to any of these countries with what you've given us. http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...
has 370 entries for "Gravel" with the birth year set for 1600, (+/-) 20.

I get 29 with B-Y 1560 (+/-) 20. Before that you are fooling yourself, unless the person involved is a king.

This is the oldest GRAVAL I found.

ID: I2884
Name: Charles GRAVAL
Given Name: Charles
Surname: GRAVAL
Sex: M
Birth: 14 JUN 1664 in Chateau-Richer,Montmorency Cnty,Prov Of Quebec
Christening: 14 JUN 1664 Chateau-Richer,Montmorency,Que...
Death: 13 MAY 1714 in Chateau-Richer,Montmorency Cnty,Prov Of Quebec
Burial: 13 MAY 1714 Chateau-Richer,Montmorency Cnty,Prov Of Quebec
Ancestral File #: V7MZ-7J

Father: Mosse-Joseph GRAVEL b: 1616 in Montmorency,Chateau Richer,Quebec c: 1616 in ,,,France
Mother: Marguerite Tavernier b: 1627 in Tourouvre,Mortagne,Perche,Fran... c: 1627 in Notre-Dame,Anges,France just to expand on Ted's reply....
your question suggests the idea that there *must* be one person, who is *the* original ancestor, and all persons with that name, are descended from him.
Analogy wise... surnames often came from different sources such as occupations. Smith is normally interpreted as coming from those who were blacksmiths, thus, there easily could be 5 (black)smiths in a village/town, none of them related but all the descendants wind up using Smith as a surname.
So.. what you are asking, or trying to locate, is (in all probability) a hypothetical situation that is not necessarily factual.