Thomas
VIAU dit LESPÉRANCE
Helpful background for understanding names and places that may appear in Thomas's Québec records.
Québec has been described by several names during different periods of its history. Knowing the period name can make older records easier to recognize.
Thanks to Micheline Gadbois MacDonald for providing this information.
When the first settlers came to Québec from France, it was a custom to add a "dit" nickname to the surname. The English translation of "dit" is "said." Colonists of Nouvelle France used dit names as distinguishers. A settler might use one to differentiate a branch of the family from siblings, sometimes choosing a name connected with the place to which the family had relocated.
A dit name could also result from a casual adoption or from honoring the family that had raised someone. In other cases it identified the town or village in France from which the person originated. The custom ended around 1900, when people increasingly used only one name, either the dit nickname or the original surname.
Source: American-French Genealogical Society, Woonsocket, Rhode Island (www.afgs.org/ditnames/index1.html)
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