Welcome to DNA Ancestor Communities! Here you can learn about your own ancestry as well as explore wide-ranging topics such as genetics, genealogy, and world history. We have ten DNA Ancestry forums, including several found nowhere else, such as Melungeon, Romani, and Cherokee. You may read any posts in any forum but to reply or start a new thread you must register. Please click at the top right corner to register or log in.

If you're not sure where to start, register, choose a forum, and jump in. DNA Ancestor Communities is for everyone, from novice to expert. Our experienced moderators will be happy to guide you during your search for answers and information, and of course everyone likes to hear personal stories. Come on in!

CARNEY DNA Project

Moderators: dpyates, jakayj, suelevin1, dnacommunities, teresapy, D J Thornton

D J Thornton
Posts: 321
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:58 am

Re: CARNEY DNA Project

Postby D J Thornton » Wed Jul 11, 2018 9:03 am

Neither Courany or Cornelly is on this list, have seen Corne variant of Corneille.
http://www.afgs.org/ditnames/index1.html

American-French Genealogical Society
Surnames French-Canadian :
Variants, Dit, Anglicization, etc.
Given Names French-Canadian: English Variants, Anglicization's, Latin
The "American-French Genealogical Society" are pleased to present this collection of name variations to French-Canadian genealogical researchers .



There are two reasons why there are so many variant spellings of some names.
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.
The second reason for variant spellings is: 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.


Return to “Melungeon”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests