Vol. 65 No. 1 (2017)
Article

Channel Islands Surnames of French Origin in North America

Published 2017-01-02

Keywords

  • skyscraper names,
  • mainland China,
  • presentation names,
  • onomastics

Abstract

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, migrants from the Channel Islands settled in various parts of North America. Many of them bore French names which their ancestors had brought over from Normandy and Brittany to Jersey and Guernsey in previous centuries. However, since many of these surnames were no longer found to exist in France or had evolved beyond recognition, their etymologies became irretrievable in standard French onomastic works. In this study, it will be shown that their origins can be ascertained for the most part by supplementing traditional research methods with the vast onomastic, geographical and genealogical data that has become available on the internet in recent years.

References

  1. Ancestry. 2016. http://tinyurl.com/put99os (accessed June 1, 2016).
  2. Dauzat, Albert. 1989. Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de famille et prénoms de France. Paris: Larousse.
  3. Dauzat, Albert, and Charles Rostaing. 2002. Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France. Paris: Librairie Guénégaud.
  4. De Garie, Mireille. 2016. La famille de Garis à Guernesey. http://tinyurl.com/z7o3gyx (accessed June 1, 2016).
  5. Géopatronyme. 2016. http://tinyurl.com/yj28pjv (accessed June 1, 2016).
  6. Géoportail. 2016. http://tinyurl.com/a9fqxe9 (accessed June 1, 2016).
  7. Hanks, Patrick, ed. 2003. Dictionary of American family names. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
  8. Morlet, Marie-Thérèse. 1997. Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de famille. Paris: Perrin.
  9. Nègre, Ernest. 1990-91. Toponymie générale de la France. Genève: Droz.
  10. Picard, Marc. 2013. Dictionary of Americanized French-Canadian names: Onomastics and genealogy. Baltimore, MD: Clearfield.
  11. Picard, Marc. 2010a. On the problematic surnames in the dictionary of American family names: A genealogically based reanalysis of the unidentified and uncertain origins. Saarbrücken: VDM.
  12. Picard, Marc. 2010b. Dictionnaire des noms de famille du Canada français: généalogie et anthroponymie. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval.
  13. Picard, Marc. 2009. Genealogical evidence and the Americanization of European family names. Names 57:30-51.10.1179/175622709X402654
  14. Rootsweb. 2016. http://tinyurl.com/5q4g62 (accessed June 1, 2016).
  15. Seary, E. R., Sheila M. P. Lynch, and William J. Kirwin. 1998. Family names of the island of Newfoundland. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
  16. Thomas, Gerald. 1999. French family names of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John’s, NF: Harry Cuff Publications Limited
  17. Tosti, Jean. 2016. Noms et prénoms: leur origine. http://tinyurl.com/zohw5j2 (accessed June 1, 2016).
  18. Turk, Marion G. 2008. The quiet adventurers in Canada. Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books.