ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1328
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1328
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25 Oct 1998
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked if <Durand> is a period French masculine name.  Here is what we
have found.

<Durand>, in various spellings, was used in France as early as the year
819.  We have found examples through the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries in
Latin records, where it is spelled <Durandus> and <Durantus>, and less
often as <Duorandus>, <Turandus>, and <Durannus> [5].  The spelling <Duran>
appears in early 13th century Provence [2].  The 1292 census of Paris
includes <Durant>, and the same spelling was used in 14th century Picardy
(northwestern France) [3, 4].

The Normans carried the name to England.  The Latinized form <Durandus> is
recorded in Anglo-Norman documents in 1066.  <Durand> and <Durant> appear
in 12th and 13th century English records and <Durant> was used as late as
1428.  The variant <Douraunt> shows up in the early 14th century [1, 6].


I hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any part of
it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was assisted in
researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  25 Oct 1998


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References

[1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_
(London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Durrand.

[2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Le Censier de Chomelix et de
Saint-Just-pre/s-Chomelix (1204)_ (Lyon: Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, 1978).  

[3] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris",
Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery,
Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997).
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html

[4] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de
personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de
Picardie, 1967), p.21.

[5] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, vol. 2 (Paris: Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972).

[6] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_,
3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Durand.