In France, the appearance of surnames is recorded from the 12th century. For their education used birthplace, profession, nicknames. Aristocrats used the preposition de before the surname. By royal decree of 1539, nicknames became mandatory for everyone. The name and surname of the newborn was now carefully recorded in parish books. It was forbidden to change the personal name of the family by royal decree. And what are the French names? A list, interesting facts and history are given below.
Etymology of French Surnames
Many French surnames (the list is very long, we give only a couple of three) came from male names: Michel, Simon, Robert. In very rare cases, from women: Blanche, Rose, Berthe.
Surnames from the name of the locality where the person was born are very common: Lenormand (Norman), Parisy (from the word Paris - Paris), Lyonnais (Lyon)
At the location of the house: Dupont (pont - bridge), Dubois (bois - forest), Fontaine (fountain). From the names of professions: Peugeot (seller of resin), Mitterand (grain weigher), Boucher (butcher). From nicknames: Leroux (ginger), Bonnet (cap), Mauduit (uneducated). As you can see, many beautiful French surnames, the list of which we cited above, do not mean such beautiful concepts.
Forms of French last names
Medieval French surnames, the list of which is very extensive, were feminine and masculine. But modern nicknames have a single form for men and women. That is why the French surnames of girls and men are the same.
From the components of the French surname, you can find out where the person was born. Nicknames starting with Le- (La-, Les-), as well as De-, Du-, Del-, Dela-, Des-, are typical for Normandy and Northern France. The -ot suffix indicates that the person is from Burgundy or Lorraine. The suffixes -eau, -uc, -ic indicate that the person was born in Western France.
It is interesting that two forms could be formed from one surname, which reflects the difference in the language of the northern regions of France - langue d'oïl, from the Provencal language - langue d'oc. The northern surnames of Bois, Chaussée, Roy correspond to the southern Bosc, Caussade, Rey.
The “toponymic” shell of a surname is not always indicative of where the person was born. Charles de Gaulle was very proud that his nickname is consonant with the ancient name of France - la Gaule. From childhood he was sure that he had to do great things for France. But Gaulle’s surname is Flemish, and in Flemish it sounds Van de Walle, which means “living by the fortress wall”.
Change of surname
By royal decree of 1539, the surname was to be inherited. The child was required to wear the family nickname of his father. The surname of the mother was assigned to the baby only if the father was not known.
The possibility of changing the name is still there. Typically, its cause is indecent nicknames. In the Middle Ages, the surname could have a completely different meaning. Today in France, parents decide for themselves whether the child will wear the paternal or maternal nickname.
There is also a very curious case of a change of surname during the French Revolution. In the dock of the revolutionary tribunal was one de Saint-Cyr, de Saint-Syr. When asked by the chairman about his last name, he replied that he was de Saint-Cyr. “We have no more nobility,” the chairman objected. The particle "de" was characteristic of aristocratic families. “Then I'm just Saint-Cyr,” the defendant was not at a loss. “We have no more saints,” the chairman continued. “Then I'm just Syr,” the defendant retorted. “There are no more king and royal titles,” the chairman did not relent. The defendant turned out to be an extremely witty person. He stated that he could not be judged since he did not have a surname. The court found him not guilty and ordered him to choose a republican name.
Facts
Like all concepts in French, surnames have a fixed stress at the end of a word. In modern France, there are 250,000 names. The most common is the surname Martin. The most iconic, bearing a social burden, are considered 2 surnames - Dupont and Duchateau. Dupont (pont - bridge) - a widespread nickname, is a symbol of the average Frenchman. Duchateau (chateau - castle) - a surname symbolizing a rich Frenchman. A distinctive feature of French surnames is that when addressing a girl they add mademoiselle, to a married woman or widow madame, and to a man - monsieur. Only this distinguishes male and female French surnames, a list of which we have already cited.
Transliteration of French Surnames
Today, the correct transfer of foreign names and surnames requires unification, as many translators transliterate them illiterate. As a result, the same character in different translations has several spellings of his name. French surnames are transliterated into Russian in accordance with the rules for reading French. But the problem is that not all French sounds are in Russian. Therefore, such combinations of letters as -ain, -aim, -an, -am, -on, -un, -in, etc., that is, all nasal sounds in the Russian transliteration acquire the sound "n": -en, - en, -an, -an, -on, -en, -en. Sounds [ǝ] and [œ] resembling the sound in the word "dead" are transmitted to Russian as "e" at the beginning or middle of the word. At the end of a word there can be a double spelling: Villedieu - Wildier, Montesquieu - Montesquieu.
In order not to offend people's feelings, it is important to pronounce French surnames correctly. A list in Russian would be a very good idea, but so far there is no single list.