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unfortunately a simple family history check tears that theory to shreds. the publisher Elsevier, was named for an historic scientific publisher the House of Elzevir. the founder's name though was originally Lodewijk Elsevier (from which the modern publisher takes it's name - Elzevir/Elzevirium was an self-assumed Latinization). His father in turn was Hans Helschevier (this remains a family name in the Netherlands). There is a myth floating around that Elsevir is from Hebrew Hal Safir, but the purported Hebrew seems spurious (it comes close to "there is a sapphire", not "of the book", and the Hebrew script supplied simply does not exist outside this myth). The family apparently came from France , where Chevier and Schevier are also surnames. I rather suspect it is a Vasconne (Basque) name and a variant of Xavier (the original Basque is a locality surname meaning "new house"), but it requires more research. to require the fathers name Helschevier to be a derivation of the Elzevir that was the form used by the grandsons requires a bit of time travel that defies logic.

The origin of the family and of the name is well documented. The Helschevier family came from Leuven (now in Belgium). Their name means "hellfire" and comes from the signboard that hung in front of their house depicting souls burning in hell.