In France, coats of arms were never limited to the nobility. Bourgeois families, peasants, towns and guilds all bore them, and when Louis XIV ordered arms to be registered in 1696, about 80,000 of the 110,000 recorded belonged to non-nobles. The Revolution abolished arms in June 1790, Napoleon created his own heraldry in 1808, and after 1814 taking arms became free again. France has no heraldic authority today; the courts protect family arms as an accessory of the family name.
The fleur-de-lis and the arms of France
No charge is more closely tied to France than the fleur-de-lis. From the late 12th century the kings bore “azure, a semis of fleurs-de-lis or”, a blue shield scattered with gold lilies. In 1376, during the reign of Charles V, the royal arms were changed to “azure, three fleurs-de-lis or”, the version most people picture today. When Louis XVI’s title changed in 1790 from “King of France and Navarre” to “King of the French”, the royal arms were simplified to gold fleurs-de-lis on a blue field, and they remained in use until 1792.
The royal lilies spread well beyond the king’s own shield. Many French cities carry a “chief of France”, a blue band of gold fleurs-de-lis across the top of the shield, granted as a royal augmentation. French heralds even had a special term, cousu (“sewn on”), for this chief, because on many shields it would otherwise break the rule of tincture. So a fleur-de-lis in a family’s or town’s arms is common and does not by itself point to royal blood. For what the symbol meant to heralds, see our heraldry symbols guide; for the colours, the heraldic colors guide.
Arms for everyone: bourgeois heraldry
The basic French rule, as the heraldic historian François Velde sums it up, was that “anyone could choose a coat of arms as long as it followed the rules of heraldry.” Arms were taken by bourgeois families, peasants and corporate bodies such as towns and guilds, as well as by the nobility.
The distinctions that did exist concerned the trappings around the shield rather than the shield itself:
- In 1372 Charles V conferred on the bourgeoisie of Paris the right to use armorial bearings, but it was “strenuously denied” that they could use the timbred helm (a helmet placed above the shield).
- In 1568 an edict of Charles IX banned armoiries timbrées (arms with a helmet) for anyone who was not noble by birth.
- In 1760 the Crown tried to restrict arms to the nobility, and the courts struck the attempt down as contrary to the fundamental laws of the kingdom.
So in France the helmet and other ornaments around the shield may hint at rank, but the shield itself tells you little about social class. Our guide on how to read a coat of arms explains these outer parts.
D’Hozier’s Armorial général (1696)
In 1696, in the middle of a European war and short of money, Louis XIV’s government issued an edict requiring arms to be registered, for a fee. The registers were kept by Charles d’Hozier, who signed as “Keeper of the General Armory of France”. The result, usually called the Armorial général, recorded about 110,000 coats of arms, some 80,000 of them belonging to non-nobles.
It is a wonderful source, with one important caution. The edict was a tax measure, and many people were pushed into taking arms, against their will, so that they would pay. An entry in the 1696 registers proves that arms were recorded in someone’s name; it does not prove the family had used them before, or used them afterwards. The original registers are held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and an index published in 1865 lists about 60,000 names. If you find an entry, record the exact person, town and généralité (tax district), not just the surname. See how to verify a coat of arms for the questions to ask.
Revolution, Empire and Restoration
1790: arms abolished
On 19 June 1790 the National Assembly decreed that “hereditary nobility is forever abolished”. Titles from prince down to squire were banned, and the decree stated that “no one may wear livery or have them worn, nor may anyone have a coat of arms.” Arms painted on carriages were given a grace period: until 14 July for residents of Paris, and three months in the provinces.
1808: Napoleon’s heraldry
Napoleon brought back titles by a decree of 1 March 1808, but not the old regime’s arms. He created his own system, in which toques (plumed caps) replaced coronets and special charges on the shield showed a holder’s office, for example a minister, prefect, mayor or military officer. Title holders could not use arms other than those set out in their letters patent, but Napoleon did not stop other people from assuming arms. The system lasted only about six years.
1814 onward: free again
After the Restoration of 1814 traditional coronets returned, and an ordinance of 15 July 1814 allowed holders of Napoleonic arms to apply for new ones. Taking arms remained free, and no heraldic authority was set up. That is still the position. French arms law is, in the words of a 2006 Interior Ministry answer to the Senate, “essentially customary”: family arms, “considered as accessories of the family name, are protected as such”, while town arms enjoy no particular protection. The courts have treated arms this way since the 1870s.
French surnames in America
French names reached North America by several routes, and each leaves its own kind of record.
New France and the dit names
Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City in 1608. The French Catholic parish registers of the St. Lawrence Valley, which begin in 1621, are so complete that researchers at the Université de Montréal have used them to reconstruct the early population of Quebec family by family. One complication is the dit name: “dit” means “called”, and many families used a second name, as in Miville dit Deschênes. The same family can appear under either name, so search for both. For more on following a name across records, see how to trace your surname origin.
Acadia and Louisiana
Between 1755 and 1764 the British deported about 11,500 Acadians from what are now Canada’s Maritime provinces. Some returned, many settled in Quebec or France, and in Louisiana they gave rise to the community whose culture became known as Cajun.
Huguenots
Many French Protestants, the Huguenots, left France in the years around the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The 1680s were the peak decade for Huguenot migration to British North America: they settled in Charleston, Boston and New York, and founded communities such as New Rochelle and Staten Island in New York, Manakintown in Virginia and the Santee and Goose Creek settlements in South Carolina.
Translated names
Many French surnames changed in English-speaking North America. Most changes were simple respellings, but some were translations. In a 2012 study, the linguist Marc Picard found that Leblanc became White, Roy became King and Boisvert became Greenwood independently in many different places; other examples include Dubois to Wood, Lapierre to Stone, Charpentier to Carpenter and Meunier to Miller. An ancestor named Greenwood in Michigan may well have been a Boisvert in Quebec. Our article on whether names were changed at Ellis Island looks at name changes more broadly, and heraldry by country compares France with its neighbours.
See the arms recorded for your surname →
Sources
- François Velde, “French Heraldry and Related Topics”, Heraldica: https://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/frherald.htm
- François Velde, “French Grant of Arms, 1696”, Heraldica: https://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/dhozier.htm
- François Velde, “Arms of France”, Heraldica: https://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/frarms.htm
- François Velde, “Right to Bear Arms”, Heraldica: https://www.heraldica.org/topics/right.htm
- Decree abolishing hereditary nobility and titles, 19 June 1790, in Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution (Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media): https://revolution.chnm.org/d/367
- Sénat, written question and Interior Ministry answer on armoiries (JO Sénat, 23 November 2006): https://www.senat.fr/questions/base/2006/qSEQ061024591.html
- A. C. Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909), Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Acadian Expulsion (the Great Upheaval)”: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/la-deportation-des-acadiens
- Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, “The Huguenots in the Americas”, BnF, France–Amériques: https://heritage.bnf.fr/france-ameriques/en/huguenots-americas
- Marc Picard, “On the Translation of French-Canadian Family Names in English”, Names 60:3 (2012): https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/1954
Frequently asked questions
Could ordinary French families have a coat of arms?
Yes. In France anyone could choose a coat of arms as long as it followed the rules of heraldry, and arms were used by bourgeois families, peasants, towns and guilds as well as nobles. When arms were registered under the edict of 1696, about 80,000 of the 110,000 entries belonged to non-nobles.
What is d’Hozier’s Armorial général?
It is the great register of arms compiled under an edict of Louis XIV in 1696, which required arms to be registered for a fee. Charles d’Hozier was in charge, about 110,000 coats of arms were recorded, and the registers are kept at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Because the edict was mainly a tax measure, some people were pushed into taking arms against their will.
Did the French Revolution abolish coats of arms?
Yes. The decree of 19 June 1790 abolished hereditary nobility and titles and stated that no one could have a coat of arms. Napoleon created his own system of titled heraldry in 1808, and after the Restoration of 1814 people were again free to take arms.
Is there a heraldic authority in France today?
No. Arms in France are not regulated by any authority and anyone may assume arms. Family arms are protected by the courts as an accessory of the family name, a position the Interior Ministry confirmed in 2006, while town arms have no special protection.
Why might my French-Canadian ancestor’s name have changed?
Two common reasons are dit names and translation. Many French-Canadian families used a second name introduced by the word dit (meaning called), and records may use either one. In English-speaking North America some names were translated, such as Leblanc to White, Roy to King and Boisvert to Greenwood.