Norman Canadians are Canadians who can be either French speaking or English speaking. Their ancestors originate from Normandy and they came from, what is called now Upper Normandy, Lower Normandy and the Channel Islands.
Normans (Nortmanni in Latin) was originally the name given by the Northern French inhabitants to Norwegian and Danish Vikings that plundered the French coastal regions and to those who finally settled in the Northwestern part of Neustria around 911 AD. Their descendants, that completely mixed up with the local population, were called Norman as well and the part of France, where they lived, Normandie. It could be said that some of their ancestors were the first Europeans to discover North America in 1000 AD (see Leif Ericson).
Other Normans came to Canada from countries that they had immigrated to after the Edit de Nantes had been revoked in 1685. Thousands of Norman people immigrated to Great Britain, the Netherlands, South Africa and the British colonies and some to Switzerland and Germany, when the majority converted to Catholicism.
The first settlers to Canada came from Normandy. Example: On July 23, 1632, 300 colonists heading to Canada departed from Dieppe. They brought with them their own culture and Norman language. Subsequently, those that followed would also speak their language.
Famous Norman Canadians and notable Norman settlers
Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit, naval captain, lieutenant of New France and governor.
One famous Norman that came to Canada was Charles le Moyne de Longueuil et de Châteauguay, from Longueil near Dieppe and his wife Catherine Primot-Thierry from Rouen, the capital city of Normandy. They had fourteen children. Two of them became famous : Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, who founded Louisiana and the cities of Mobile and Biloxi, and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, who founded New Orleans.
Another famous Norman was Robert Cavelier, who claimed Louisiana for the King of France, and who established many forts in the Illinois country. He was born at Rouen.
Pierre Boucher came to Canada with his father in 1635 from the Norman Perche, and later became Governor of Trois-Rivières. He was the first Canadian settler to be ennobled by King Louis XIV. He died at his seigniory in Boucherville, which was named in his honour.
Jean Brebeuf was born in Condé-sur-Vire, Normandy. He came to Canada in 1625 as a missionary. He went to live with the Hurons and learned their customs and language. He was the first to write a grammar and dictionary in the Huron language. He is Canada's "first serious ethnographer." He also became a valuable source of Canadian history.
Guillaume Couture was born 1618 in Rouen.
Pierre Dugrenier dit Perron was born 1675 in Rouen, paroisse Saint-Maclou
Jacques Le Ber, merchant and lord at Montreal, from Senneville, near Pîtres, today in Upper-Normandy.
Pierre Garand, ancestor of all the Garand family in America, from Rouen.
Julien Dubuque was a Norman Canadian from the area of Champlain, Quebec, who arrived near what now is known as Dubuque, Iowa, which was named after him. He was one of the first white men to settle in the area in 1788. His Great Grandfather was Jean Dubuc from Rouen, Normandy.
Wilfrid-Étienne Brunet founded the first Brunet pharmacy in 1855 in Quebec City, the largest one at the time. The Brunet pharmacies are now owned by Metro, and have 124 pharmacies in the province of Québec.
Brothers Charles Hamel and Jean Hamel, ancestors of almost all Hamels in North America, born Abt 1624 and 1630, respectively, in Avremesnil, near Dieppe
Paul Hus son of Leonard Hus and Marguerite Lenfant, from Montigny, Normandy, colonized the Islands of Sorel. Paternal ancestor of the Hus, Paulhus, Beauchemin, Lemoine, Capistran, Paul, Millet, and Cournoyer lineages in Canada. Name believed to originate from hus, or house in Danish.
Charles Robin formed a firm which developed fishing grounds off Cape Breton Island and the Gaspé region. He was born in Saint Brélade, Jersey in 1743.
Christian Cardell Corbet 20th-21st century portrait painter and sculptor known for his portraits of celebrity subjects such as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Dame Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood, Sir Winston Churchill and many others. Descends from Vale, Guernsey, Channel Islands.
Anctil (In France, Anctil is a typical Norman surname, former first name. Anctil is a variant spelling of Anquetil. Anctil is found in the pays de Caux region of Upper Normandy, and also Cotentin together with the widespread common spelling Anquetil and the other variant spellings Amptil, Anquety and Anquetille all found in Normandy. Its etymology is Old Norse Ásketill)
Asselin (Most Asselin in France originate from the Orléans region, Loire valley, but the surname is also widespread in Normandy. The variant female form of the surname, Asseline, is typical Norman)
Bacon (Most Bacon in France are from Lower Normandy, but there is also a patronymic Bacon in Brittany and in Artois)
Béchervaise (Originate from Jersey where there is still a Béchervaise Street in the region of St Mary. Antarctic explorer John Béchervaise originates from this region.)
Bélanger (Most Bélanger in France originate from Anjou and some from Picardy), variant form of Béranger
Bérubé (Bérubé is a typical Norman name in France, that originates precisely from the pays de Caux)
Bonhomme (Most Bonhomme in France originate from the Massif Central region, south of France, but the patronymic has been also widespread everywhere since a long time)
Boucher (Most Boucher in France originate from Picardy, some are from Brittany and the Western Loire valley, but the patronymic has been widespread everywhere since a long time)
Bourdon (Most Bourdon in France are from Artois and Picardy, but the name has been also present in Upper Normandy and in Brittany since a long time)
Brassard (Most Brassard in France originate from French Flanders, but the name is also widespread in Lower Normandy, in the Western Loire Valley and in Auvergne)
Brière (Most Brière in France are from Maine and from Normandy, variant form of Bruyère)
Brunelle (Most Brunelle in France originate from Artois, French Flanders and Picardy, but the name has been present in other regions since a long time. It is a variant spelling of Brunel : north and south, Bruneau : west and Bruneel : Flanders. The typical Norman form is Bunel : from Brunel > Burnel > Busnel > Bunel)
Brunet (the patronymic has been widespread everywhere in France since a long time)
Carpentier (In France Carpentier is a surname from Picardy and Upper Normandy. The typical Norman form is Lecarpentier, the French form is Charpentier)
Chevalier (In France, Chevalier is a traditional surname in the langue d'oïl and Franco-Provençal speaking regions. The typical Norman variant form is Lechevalier)
Corbet
Couture
Croteau (In France Croteau is a surname from the Perche county, not exactly Normandy)
Delisle (In France Delisle is a surname from the Northwest, including Normandy)
Deschamps
Dubuque (ill-spelling of the surname Dubuc. There are in fact two different surnames spelled the same way Dubuc. The Dubucs from the pays de Caux in Upper Normandy, that means "from the Buc", name of "a farm" or "a hamlet". The southwestern rarer surname - Gasconic - Dubuc does not share the same etymology)
Duclos (In France Duclos is more common in Normandy than everywhere, but it is also widespread in Brittany and in the Southwest)
Fontaine, meaning that the original family with the name lived near the source of a spring.
Fortin (In France, Fortin is a widespread surname from the Northwestern part to the Southwestern part of France)
Fiset (The surname Fiset is from the northern part of France, that includes Normandy)
Gagnon
Gallant (In some cases Galland, and frequently in Hache-Gallant in Canada)
Godbout (In France Godbout is a rare variant spelling of Godebout, a surname from pays de Caux in Upper Normandy. Godeboust that can be found in some ancient records is an ill-spelling of the surname)
Grenier
Groult
Guèvremont
Guyon (later changed by many to Dion)
Hamel (In France, Hamel is a Norman surname)
Hébert (In France, Hébert is a Norman surname, variant form of Herbert)
Hus
Labrecque (rare Norman surname, variant form of Delabrecque in Upper Normandy)
Lalonde (In France, it is a Norman surname, that has been also widespread in Picardy since a long time. It means the one from a place called la Londe or from "the wood". Londe is a former Norman word - until the 16th century - that meant "wood", from Old Norse lundr "wood". Variant forms : Delalonde, Delalondre)
Lamarre (Northern French surname, sometimes confused in Normandy with Lamare, shortened form of the typical Norman surname Delamare)
Lamy (In France, Lamy has been found almost everywhere except in the very South since a long time)
Langlois (In France Langlois is a Norman surname)
Larchevêque (In France Larchevêque is a surname from Upper Normandy and from the Cher département in the région Centre)
Larue
Lasalle (the name is not Norman but Picard and Béarnais)
Lebrun
Leclair
Lecompte
Lefèbvre
Lagacé (Spelling variations of this family name include: Lagace, Lagacé, Lagache, Lagasse, Legacy, Gache, Gaché, Gaches, Gachet, Gachon, Lagacée and many more. Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: 200 individuals who arrived from Normandy onto Canadian shores between 1600 and 1900. Among them, André Lagacé worked in Saint-Pierre-les-Becque in 1861.). The name Lagacé is now typical of French Flanders
Lelièvre
Lemoyne
Lessard is first of all a Breton surname
Levasseur
Loiselle variant spelling for the more common Norman name Loisel corresponding to Loiseau in French
Martel variant spelling for Marteau
Morel
Paquet
Paradis
Pelletier
Petit, the original person with this name was small in size.
Picard
Poirier
Poulin
Primeau, variant spelling for Primot
Quevillon (Quevillon is a Norman surname from the place-name Quevillon near Rouen in Upper Normandy. The corresponding French place-name is Chevillon)
Quenneville (In France, Quenneville is a typical Norman surname from the département Eure in Upper Normandy. It is from the disappeared place-name Quenneville)
Racine
Rainville
Renaud
Roussel, variant northern and southern form of Rousseau, mainly central and west. Russell in English comes from Roussel
Routhier
Saint-Aubin
Sénéchal, French and southern Norman form. Norman variant form Sénécal
Simon
Therrien
Thiboutot (Thiboutot is originally a place-name of pays de Caux and the surname means "the one from the place called Thiboutot". The place-name Thiboutot near Maniquerville is a combination of Thibout, variant form of Thibaut of Frankish etymology Teudbald, see Theobald, and the Old Norse place-name element topt "site of a house" that gives regularly the final -tot and the simple place-names le Tot in Normandy)
Trépanier.
Cities and villages with endings coming from the Norman language:
Among other things, the name Québec is not from Norman etymology (where there are many place-names ending with -bec, that is from bekkr “stream, brook” in Old Norse). The name "Québec", which comes from the Algonquin word kebec meaning "where the river narrows", originally referred to the area around Quebec City where the Saint Lawrence River narrows to a cliff-lined gap.
-beuf or -but or -bot, from both / buth “shelter, barrack, village” (cf. English booth, Norse and Danish bod ) : Brébeuf
-fleur, from Old Norse floth or Old English flēot “coastal river, river mouth” : Honfleur
-ville, from Old French "farm", Modern French "town", "city" : Beauceville, Belleville, Bernierville, Berthierville, Blainville, Brockville, Bromptonville, Cazaville, Chesterville, Cowansville, Deauville, Daveluyville, Drummondville, Huntsville, Iberville, Johnville, Laurierville, Lennoxville, Martinville, Napierville, Norbertville, Pierreville, Plessisville, Princeville, Robertsonville, Sawyerville, Victoriaville, Waterville, Wolfville,
