Where does the last name come from?
The massive attribution of surnames dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries, a period during which the first name was no longer enough to distinguish the inhabitants of a France with a growing population.
Exclusively transmitted by men to their descendants since the 17th century, it is impossible to change it without authorization.
To read also
“Deux-Sèvres”, “Yvelines”… The unusual history of the names of the French departments
Of Gallic, Latin, or even Germanic origin (the latter ending most of the time in -bert, -aud, or -ry), many surnames listed today are extinct forms of words from Old French , explains Jacques Cellard in
Family Names
(Belin).
Some have varied graphically, so there are "Delorme", "Dellorme", "Delhorme" and "De l'Horme".
It is estimated that there are 300,000 surnames carried by the French.
Some are widespread, others on the verge of extinction.
Where exactly do they come from?
Small treatise on anthroponymy.
Nicknames and nicknames
The first names were composed from the first name of the father of the family.
“Martin” is one of the oldest surnames, which explains the very many surnames derived from the same first name.
In the Middle Ages, it is necessary to underline the importance of the "mysteries", plays staging the Passion of Christ, to explain certain frequent names like "Lévêque" or "Leroy", resulting from the characters usually played by the first named of a lineage.
The origin of many surnames finds its source in the nicknames and nicknames formerly attributed to individuals.
Often motivated by a physical characteristic or a personality trait, we guess that Mr. "Lepetit" was not very tall and that Mr. "Lebon" and Mr. "Bellamy" (from the Latin "amicus", "he who loves ”) had a heart of gold.
On the other hand, it is more complicated to identify the meaning of the name "Boutrou", or "Bloy", for example.
The first designates a large man, the “boute-roue” having qualified a terminal against which one came to “butte”, to deposit, the wheels of the cars.
The second refers to the pronunciation defect called “blèsement”, from the Latin “blaesus” (hair on the tongue).
"The names of animals, whose 'typical' characters appear in
Le roman de Renart
inspired our close-to-nature ancestors in various ways", we learn in the
Etymological Dictionary of French Family Names of Foreign and Regional Origin
( The Harmattan) by Laurent Herz.
From then on, the individuals of the “Laperdrix”, “Leboeuf”, “Cerf” families, and the playwright Pierre Corneille himself, have in common to have had an ancestor whose personality was likened to that of an animal.
Topo-patronyms
Even before the invention of surnames, different homonyms of the same parish community were distinguished by their place of residence or business.
"He's the Jacques of the woods", or "the Godfrey of the mountain", they said.
Needless to say, this is the origin of the names “Dubois” and “Dumont”.
The same goes for the "Verneuil", originating from the eponymous hamlet, and the "Lacoste", whose house adjoined a hill.
Just as someone who left his region for another was easily renamed "Picard" or "Lenormand" by the community that adopted him.
As far as particle names are concerned, "many noble families abandoned their surname to bear only the name of the land, the fief being by definition the sign of feudal possession", recounts Charles Samaran in
L'Histoire et ses methods
( Gallimard).
However, the "d'Arvor" and "de Fontenay" for example, have no title of nobility.
Their name refers to owning a domain.
Tell me what you do, I'll tell you who you are
Lemarchand, Tisserand, Carbonnier (coal merchant), Bouvier (ox driver)... Many trades gave their name to the people whose profession it was.
Some are easy to recognize, they still exist.
But the addition of suffixes has sometimes made their origin indistinguishable.
The profession of blacksmith was one of the most widespread in France in the Middle Ages.
From the Latin "faber", we used the form of the old French "fabre" for the surnames "Fabri", which is found in the Nice region, "Faré", in Roussillon, or even "Faurrreau", in Poitou.
Because foreign and regional languages also played an important role in the process of assigning surnames.
Following the annexation of Lorraine in 1766, German names were Frenchified, sometimes without great complexity.
“Müller”, derived from “mühle” (meaning “mill”) thus becomes “Muller” to qualify the Lorraine miller.
The same process is observed for Breton names.
Many of them are mixed and contain the article “Le” (“Ar” in Breton).
Also, "Le Quéré" designates the shoemaker, and "Le Fustec" a cooper.
