French surnames: list, history and interesting facts

In France, the appearance of surnames is recorded from the 12th century. To form them, they used birthplaces, professions, and nicknames. The aristocrats used the preposition de before the surname. According to the royal decree of 1539, the existence of nicknames became mandatory for all. The name and surname of the newborn have now been carefully recorded in church parish books. It was forbidden to change the personal name of the family by royal decree. And what are the French surnames? The list, interesting facts and history are given below.

Etymology of French surnames

Many French surnames (their list is very large, we will give only a couple of) came from the male names: Michel, Simon, Robert. In very rare cases from women: Blanche, Rose, Berthe.

Very common surnames from the name of the area where the person was born: Lenormand (Norman), Parisy (from the word Paris - Paris), Lyonnais (lyonetz)
At the location of the house: Dupont (pont - bridge), Dubois (bois - forest), Fontaine (fountain). From the names of occupations: Peugeot (resin seller), Mitterand (grain weigher), Boucher (butcher). From the nicknames: Leroux (red), Bonnet (cap), Mauduit (ill-bred). As you can see, many beautiful French surnames, the list of which we have quoted above, mean not so beautiful concepts.

Forms of French names

Medieval French surnames, the list of which is very extensive, had a feminine and masculine gender. But modern nicknames are the only form for men and women. That's why the French names of girls and men are the same.

By parts of the French family, you can find out where a person was born. Nicknames beginning with Le- (La-, Les-), as well as De-, Du-, Del-, Dela-, Des-, are characteristic for Normandy and Northern France. The suffix -ot indicates that a person comes from Burgundy or Lorraine. Suffixes -eau, -uc, -ic indicate that a person was born in Western France.

It is interesting that two forms could have been formed from one surname, which reflects the difference in the language of the northern regions of France - langue d'oïl, from the Provencal language - langue d'oc. The northern name Bois, Chaussée, Roy corresponds to the southern Bosc, Caussade, Rey.

Not always the "toponymic" shell of the surname indicates where the person was born. Charles de Gaulle was very proud of the fact that his nickname is consonant with the ancient name of France - la Gaule. He had been convinced from childhood that he was going to do great things for France. But the name is Gaulle Flemish, and in Flemish it sounds Van de Walle, which means "living at the fortress wall."

Change of surname

According to the Royal Decree of 1539, the surname was to be inherited. The child had to bear the family nickname of his father. The mother's name was assigned to the child only in the event that the father was not known.

The possibility of changing the name still exists. As a rule, its cause is the unseemly nickname. In the Middle Ages the surname could have a completely different meaning. Today in France, parents decide for themselves, the father's or mother's nickname will be worn by a child.

There is also a very curious case of a change of name during the French Revolution. In the dock of the revolutionary tribunal was a certain de Saint-Cyr, de Saint-Syr. Asked by the chairman about his name, he replied that he was de Saint-Cyr. "We have no more nobility," the chairman objected. The particle "de" was characteristic of aristocratic surnames. "Then I'm just Saint-Cyr," the defendant did not lose his head. "We do not have more saints," the chairman continued. "Then I'm just Sire," retorted the defendant. "There is no more king and royal titles," the chairman continued. The defendant proved to be an extremely witty person. He said that he can not be judged if he does not have a last name. The court found him innocent and ordered him to choose a republican name.

Data

Like all concepts in French, the surnames have a fixed emphasis on the end of the word. In modern France, there are 250,000 names. The most common name is Martin. The most significant, carrying a social load, are 2 names - Dupont and Duchateau. Dupont (pont - bridge) - a widespread nickname, is a symbol of the average Frenchman. Duchateau (chateau - castle) - surname, symbolizing a rich Frenchman. A distinctive feature of French surnames is that when referring to a girl add mademoiselle, to a married woman or widow madame, and to a man - monsieur. Only this, and distinguishes between male and female French names, whose list we have already cited.

Transliteration of French names

To date, the correct transfer of foreign names and surnames requires unification, as many translators illiterate transliterate them. As a result, the same character in different translations has several options for writing his name. French surnames are transliterated into Russian in accordance with the rules of reading French. But the problem is that not all sounds of French are available in Russian. Therefore, such combinations of letters as -ain, -aim, -an, -am, -on, -un, -in, etc., that is, all nasal sounds, in Russian transliteration acquire the sound of "n": -en, - En, -an, -an, -on, -en, -en. Sounds [ǝ] and [œ], resembling the sound ё in the word "dead", are transmitted to Russian as "e" in the beginning or middle of the word. At the end of the word can be a double spelling: Villedieu - Vildieu, Montesquieu - Montesquieu.

In order not to offend the feelings of people, it is important to correctly pronounce the French surnames. The list in Russian would be a very good idea, but so far there is no single list.