Ancient Wanderings ... Genealogy of the Upper Great Lakes, Canada, New England, Scandinavia, Europe .... and more

 

Anyone doing French or French Canadian genealogical research will at one point or an other discover that the names changed or were added to creating double or sometimes triple names. At first this can often be confusing, often it is excused as Americanizing the names. Though spelling and pronunciation name changes were common, the Dit names are a different story. the "dit" name is what a person was actually called or known as. >> Click here to learn about name changes.   "dit" is pronounced "dee".

Dit names are not nicknames, or aliases, they are not the same as an aka (also known as). and they are not the results of poor spelling or just changing the name for immigration or anglicizing the names. A dit name is not a replacement for an existing name it is an addition or extention to a name. A basic list of the source of Dit names would include: Occupation/Guild, Place of origin, Physical description, Seignorial identification, A Deed or Accomplishment, Description of some object or Place, or a Character description.

Quite often these "dit" names were adopted in order to keep track of people when a family was particularly large. Different branches of the family might take different dit names based on where they lived. Sometimes a husband chose to take his Wifes surname as a Dit Name.

Dit in French means "said" or in this context, it means "called." In my tree I have a Antoine Gauthier dit Marcoux The last name or surname is "Gauthier dit Marcoux" so we have Gauthier called Marcoux

There were many reasons for taking a Dit name, often it was to distinguish oneself or ones family from other families with the same surname, or from ones siblings. 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).

A second or lower son, may take the dit name of his mothers family, or an uncle or other family member. Dit names were also taken as the result of casual adoption, or honoring a family that had raised them, or given them opportunites.

Proffesional or trades were often use as Dit Names, the Name LeFebvre could be derived from the French occupational name Fevre, which described an iron-worker or smith. From the Old French "fevre" meaning craftsman. Similar French surnames include Fabre, Faivre, Faure, and Lefèvre. This is the French equivalent of the English surname Smith.

Dit names could be used as a placename, to create a tie to an original family location in France, taking from the common use of place names used by Nobility, Humbert II of Savoy, William of Burgundy. The surname Laurentius originally was used to refer to a "man from Laurentum" from laurel, or "wreathed or crowned with laurel," as in honored. Laurent is the French version of the surname, while Laurence is the English version.

The custom of having dit names first began amongst the nobles and kings. It was a matter of positive identity. As an example: Guillaume, Duke of Normandie--because of his many exploits in military battles and conquests--had the name "Guillaume dit le Conquerant." Then, in 1066 when he invaded and conquered England, the English people had difficulty in pronouncing his French name of Guillaume and they called him "Gillium" but that quickly became "William". His French dit name of Guillaume dit le Conquerant then became "William the Conqueror."

The use of dit names did not come into common usage until the late 1500's, it was at this period in history that dit names became very popular in France. Families of 14, 16, and/or 18 children were not uncommon. Those large families, sedentary in nature, produced enormous numbers of duplications of names. For the authorities it created a problem of proper identification, there were too many people with the same first and last names. such people as Judges, police chiefs, priests, and others in authority had to know definitely whom they were dealing with, and this is when dit names came into common usage.

The custom of dit names was extended to the military. In the early 1600's, under the French Regime, any young man entering the service was assigned a "soubriquet" (a dit name). Usually the dit name assigned was taken from an attribute of the man. As an example: Romain Becquet was a huge man, he was given the dit name of La Montagne (the mountain man). Therefore he became Romain Becquet dit Lamontagne. The custom of the use of dit names persisted and was carried to Canada. There are some families, in the Province of Quebec, that at this late date, are still using a "double" family name. It was when the numbers of family members diminished that dit names began to disappear from the scene.

Noms de guerre and the French soldier

"When a soldier enlists in the French army, he is given a nickname or nom de guerre, for example Philibert Couillaud dit Roquebrune, soldier of the régiment de Carignan⁽¹⁾. This nickname takes on an official character. It becomes the equivalent of an identification number. The soldiers are recognized by their family names, their first names, and their noms de guerre. In daily life, the nom de guerre replaces the real family name especially when the soldier speaks a dialect or the provençal language. In the absence of a nom de guerre, he is given the same one as his name. Thus in 1651, soldier Antoine Beaufour dit Beaufour makes a deal for the baking of flat cakes at Fort Saint-Louis de Québec ⁽²⁾. In 1716, French military rules require a nom de guerre for all regular soldiers. The assignment of these nicknames is done in a flexible manner. It can be the soldier’s choice or that of the Company’s captain ⁽³⁾. During the American revolution, France sends the régiment de Tourraine to help the American rebels. A list of these soldiers has been published⁽⁴⁾. In each company, all the nicknames start with the same letter. Thus in the Dugre company, the soldiers’ nicknames all start with the letter D, in another company, they start with B. It is thus easy to identify to which company a soldier belongs. From 1764 to 1768, the Company of Casaux of the Régiment de Boulonnois-infantrie uses names of vegetables. We thus find Lartichaud, Lalétue, Lachicorée, Lecresson et Lecerfeuil. (Translator’s note: the artichoke, lettuce, chicory, cress, and chervil.) The nom de guerre is a personal property. A soldier does not change it readily. It can happen when the soldier is transferred to another company and the nickname is already in use. In France, the soldier’s wife will take his nom de guerre. On the other hand, a soldier’s son will always carry a name that is different from his father’s if he serves in the army. The absence of a genuine nickname is a sign of esteem. Officers, cadets, volunteers, and gentlemen do not have one."

1. René Jetté Dictionnaire généalogique des familes du Québec, Les Presses de l’ Université de Montréal, 1983.
2. Notaire Audouart dit Saint-Germain, 22 septembre 1651.
3. André Corvisier, L'Armée française de la fin du XVIIe siècle au ministère Choiseul: le soldat, Paris, 1964, 2 volumes.
4. Les combattants français de la guerre américaine, 1778-1783, Washington, Imp. Nationale, 1905, 453p.