[FCHSM] Some Note on French Personal Names

[SueSommerville at aol.com]

John and all,
It took me awhile to realize it, but, from my extensive reading of the 
original church registers and notarial documents, I can say that our 17th and 18th 
century ancestors did NOT hyphenate their names. This is a modern "correction" 
that appears in the published indexes and répertoires.

I'll also add that it is sometimes the case that an individual will decide to 
use a godmother's or godfather's name in place of the one cited in the 
baptismal record. Most often, godparents gave the baptized a form of his or her name 
or a combination of their names. On occasion, this did not occur but the 
individual, at a later date, assumed a godparent's name!

Sorry I don't have the examples handy, but they have been confirmed for me by 
PRDH.

Good post, John.

Suzanne
Suzanne Boivin Sommerville
In a message dated 7/30/2006 11:40:45 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
dulongj at habitant.org writes:
French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan List
_______________________________________________


Hello Folks,

OK, I have notice since the last issue of Michigan's Habitant Heritage was
published people are starting to subscribe to the email list.  So I thought
I would just launch a thread on a substantive issue.  So I looked thought my
notes and picked personal names used by the French.  Any comments,
additions, corrections, or suggestions are welcome.

In French culture a person's name usually consists of one or more given
names (prénoms) and a last name or family name (patronyme) (Jetté 1991, 74).
The given names can be found in four basic patterns: (1) simple, that is, a
single given name, as in Angeline Allie; (2) hyphenated or compound names,
as in François-Richard Dulong; (3) multiple, as in Marie Marguerite
Geneviève Gerbain; or (4) multiple-hyphenated, as in Joseph Pierre Alexandre
François-Xavier Jetté.  Some particular patterns of given names are found
hyphenated, for example, Jean-Baptiste, François-Xavier, or Marie-Anne.  In
addition, writers in our century often impose the hyphen on multiple given
names from the past.  When working with your ancestors you should not put
too much emphasis on the presence or absence of a hyphen.  If you find that
your ancestor used it consistently in contemporary documents, then it was
indeed a feature of his name and not an editorial fix found in a published
work.  In recording your research findings you should follow the usage
pattern your ancestor established in regards to his name.

Frequently, only one given name can be found for an ancestor.  This could
mean that he only had a single given name at baptism.  More likely his other
given names have been lost over time.  The end result is that the person you
are searching for might be found under different given names at different
times.  For example, your ancestor might be François-Louis at his baptism,
François at his marriage, and perhaps Louis at his burial.

Regards,

JP

John P. DuLong, Ph.D.
Acadian and French Canadian Genealogy
959 Oxford Road
Berkley, MI 48072-2011
(248) 541-2894
http://habitant.org



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