Le Breton

This is one of a group of French regional surnames of noble and romantic origins. It describes a person of Brittany, a region of France with strong Celtic origins. Le Breton as a surname is not unlike the ames Irish, English, Cornish and Welsh, all are nationalistic, and refer to people from those particular countries. They are all "from" surnames, which is to say that they were usually granted to people after they left their native region and moved elsewhere. In the small communities of the medieval period and for centuries afterwards, people were often designated by nicknames, and a locational nickname was the easiest to apply. Recorded in the spellings of Le Breton, Lebreton and Breton, this surname is as well recorded in France as can be expected. Because of the civil war between the protestants known as "Huguenots", and the Catholics, which often raged from 1550 to 1750, only to be followed by the Revolution of 1789 - 1794 when all religions were banned, and the church registers often destroyed, French records are often either erratic or non existent. However we have found a number of examples and these include Jean Le Breton of St. Nicol, Finisterre, on January 26th 1670, and Claude Le Breton at St. Doucelin, Meuse-et-Moselle, on December 12th 1692. Heraldically the name is recorded in Brittany, Lorraine, Maine, Tournay, and Isle de France, and surprisingly perhaps a Coat of Arms was also granted to "Le Breton" of Jersey, Channel Islands, and London, this being two gold chevrons on a blue field. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Bernadine Le Breton, which was dated June 9th 1648, christened at Pontrioux, Cotes du Nord, France, during the reign of King Louis X1V of France, known as "The Sun King", 1643 - 1715.