ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3106 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3106 ************************************ 12 Apr 2006 From: Mor inghean Chathail Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You requested information on as a French surname before 1600. Here is what we found. We found several French surnames of this type, including , , , and the diminutives , , and . Though French, these are based on the Breton word 'a Frenchman' and were originally applied to French immigrants to Brittany. [1] We do not have a solid pre-1600 example of the surname , but there is no doubt that the name was in use then in some form. A is said to have been appointed prior of Langlenec (or Lauglenec) in 1606, though the spelling in our source may have been modernized. [2] In the 1680s the surname was well-established in the same region: official documents mention 1688, 1689, and 1689. [3] (In the last two cases the surname was apparently recorded both with and without .) Finally, a website dedicated to the genealogy of Morbihan, Brittany, notes a who was born in 1573 and married a Pezron. [4] Genealogical sources are very rarely reliable evidence for specific spellings and are not necessarily reliable even for the basic facts, but we do have good evidence that the families <(Le) Gallic> and were in the same area a century later, so the claim is plausible. [5] All in all, seems very likely to have been a genuine Breton surname at least by the late 16th century. As late as the 1680s it appears that the same person could appear in record both as and as , so it may well be the case that and were largely interchangeable in the late 16th century as well. I was assisted in the writing of this report by Calybrid ine Tere, Gunnvor Silfraharr, Ursula Georges, Blaise de Cormeilles, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Sara Marino, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Mor inghean Chathail 12 APR 2006 -- References: [1] Dauzat, Albert. Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille et Pre/noms de France (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987); s.n. . [2] 'Le Tour-du-Parc: Histoire, Patrimoine, Noblesse (commune du canton de Sarzeau)' (WWW: InfoBretagne.com). http://www.infobretagne.com/tour-du-parc.htm [3] 'Liste des actes de la se/rie B de Riec, Moelan, Kernevel, Le Faouet, Locunole/, Tremeven, Tre/vilaire,... releve/s' (WWW: Ge/rard Baudouin, 2006). http://histoiresdeserieb.free.fr/liste_acteserieb_autres.html Unfortunately, these are only abstracts of the original documents, so it's possible that the spellings have been at least slightly modernized or otherwise normalized. However, such spellings as (alongside the more usual ), as well as , odd variations in capitalization (e.g., as well as ), and many entries that explicitly show variation between forms with and without the definite article all suggest that the normalization, if any, was very light. [4] Morbihan Ge/ne/alogie (WWW: Morbihan Ge/ne/alogie, 2004-2006). http://www.morbihan-genealogie.com/ Click on 'Personnelle' in the links listed under 'Ge/ne/alogie' (not 'Morbihan Ge/ne/alogie') to the left of the page, then search on in the search box at the bottom of the page. [5] 'Releve des decrets de mariage de la seigneurie de Quimerch 1680 a\ 1706 cote 19b114'. Cote 19b113, actes 96 a\ 190 (WWW: Ge/rard Baudouin, 2006). http://histoiresdeserieb.free.fr/transcription_19b114suite.html