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French family heritage
The Latin tongues, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.
Clan Rising is the living atlas of European family heritage, built one people at a time. French heritage is now on the map, the meaning of your surname, the homeland it came from, and the stories that travelled with it into the diaspora.
On the map
Where French heritage sits in Europe
This is the homeland on the modern map. The names below already file here; the heritage regions that subdivide it, and the deeper map, are coming next.
French names already in the atlas
- BernardBrave as a bear, a Frankish name made French.Bernard surname meaning & origin →
- DuboisOf the wood, France's commonest forest name.Dubois surname meaning & origin →
- MoreauThe dark one, a nickname turned name.Moreau surname meaning & origin →
- LaurentFor Saint Laurence, whose name the great river carries.Laurent surname meaning & origin →
- LefebvreThe smith, Smith and Schmidt's French cousin.Lefebvre surname meaning & origin →
- Leroy'The king', the festival crown, not the throne.Leroy surname meaning & origin →
- TremblayThe aspen grove, and the commonest name in Quebec.Tremblay surname meaning & origin →
- GagnonA founding name of New France, from Perche.Gagnon surname meaning & origin →
- Roy'King' without the article, and a pillar of Quebec.Roy surname meaning & origin →
- CôtéOf the slope, a founding name of the St Lawrence.Côté surname meaning & origin →
- BouchardStrong as a fortress, a Frankish noble name.Bouchard surname meaning & origin →
- GauthierRuler of the army, the French Walter.Gauthier surname meaning & origin →
- MorinThe little dark one, Moreau's cousin.Morin surname meaning & origin →
- LavoieBy the road, a name from the wayside.Lavoie surname meaning & origin →
- FortinThe sturdy one, strength in miniature.Fortin surname meaning & origin →
- OuelletA near-vanished Norman name, reborn whole in Quebec.Ouellet surname meaning & origin →
- PelletierThe furrier, and fur was the wealth of New France.Pelletier surname meaning & origin →
- BélangerThe bear-spear, a Frankish name, fair-sounding.Bélanger surname meaning & origin →
- Lévesque'The bishop', service, bearing, or pageant.Lévesque surname meaning & origin →
- BergeronThe shepherd-boy, a pastoral name, deep in Quebec.Bergeron surname meaning & origin →
- Leblanc'The white', and the most Acadian name of all.Leblanc surname meaning & origin →
- GirardBrave with the spear, the French Gerard.Girard surname meaning & origin →
- BoucherThe butcher, by way of the he-goat.Boucher surname meaning & origin →
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