Dit Names

"Dit" Names and Name Variants, by Rita Elise Plourde (10)
There are two main reasons why there are so many variant spellings of some surnames.

First: most of the citizens of the 1600-1800 were illiterate. Of these, a precious few could sign their names. However, the priests, seminarians, missionaries, monks & nuns were the most educated groups in the citizenry. Only an elite few were educated beyond what we, today, would consider a basic elementary education.

Consequently, many of the clerics & notories, who under the French system of administration were charged with recording "vital statistics" wrote the names as they knew them to be in France, as a precious few of the immigrants/colonists signed them, or as they heard them (phonetically).

That is why one sees Garau, Garrault, Gareau, Garo, etc ... even amongst the sons of a particualr ancestor. A good example are the descendants of Louis Houde ... some of the variant spellings found are: Houd, Houle, Ould, Houde, Hood,etc.

Second: As the colonists migrated within Nouvelle France/New France & eventually beyond the areas of French-speaking Canada ( ex. to current-day USA, the Caribbean, the West Indies, etc.) recorders of "vital statistics" who were not French speakers, usually spelled names phonetically, or changed them because they didn't have a clue how to write them.

(Ex. Rochefort became Rushfort in the Carolinas, Champagne became Shampang, Thibodeaux became Thibodo, or Tibodo. LeBrun was changed to Brown & Leblanc to White, etc.etc.)

The "dit" names have an interesting origin. The English translation of "dit" is "said". The Colonists of Nouvelle France added "dit" names as distinguishers. A settler might have wanted to differentiate their family from their siblings by taking a "dit" name that described the locale to which they had relocated ( ex: since the Colonists followed the customs of the French feudal system, land was divided amongst the first born sons [primogeniture] . Soon there was not enough land to divide any further.

Perhaps an adventurous younger son would decide to establish himself, with or without a family, in another area ... say a fertile piece of land near some streams ... he might add des ruisseaux (streams/creeks/rivulets) to distinguish himself from his brothers. When he married, or died, his name might be listed as Houde dit DesRuisseaux, or Desruisseau(s).

The acquiring of a "dit" name might also be the result of a casual adoption, whereby the person wanted to honor the family who had raised them. Another reason was also to distinguish themselves by taking as a "dit" name the town or village in France from which they originated ... ex: Huret dit Rochefort.

Rita Elise Plourde (10) is a member of AFGS and contributer of cultural, or historical comments in response to the queries posed by volunteers in the AFGS Volunteers mailing list. She is a bilingually educated ( K thru college) Franco-American anthropologist, who was raised in a multicultural environment. Rita continues to explore, examine &extol the culture of her French/Acadian/Quebecois ancestors & contemporary relatives. Her primary aim as an AFGS member is the sharing of information & research regarding her French/Acadian/Quebecois ancestors, their culture & their legacy.

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These Names were compiled from a large number of sources. Here are a few of the sources to help identify the areas the names came from:
(1) Names listed in the book "French-Canadian Names: Vermont Variants - by Véronique Gassette" published by the "Vermont Historical Society" Montpelier, VT.
(5) Name variations listed in Drouin film of St. Charles, Richelieu for 1740.
(6) Names variations submitted by visitors to this name variation webpage or to the "American French Genealogical Society". We would like to thank these researchers who have given us their name variations.
(7) Anglicized French surnames, Compiled by Robert E. Chenard and available at his website the "The French Connection". With his permission we have included them in our list. NOTE: Most of his list of Anglicized names are found in Maine but not all. Some are found in New York, Ontario, Indiana, NH, etc.