Quote:
Originally Posted by kwoldtimer
There was a very senior civil servant named de Montigny Marchand. It is the only way I ever saw his name styled or spoken. Your comment made me curious, however, and I found a bio site on-line that gives his name as "J.C. De Montigny Marchand" and that of his father as "Jean Charles Marchand". It makes me wonder if "de Montigny" was adopted at some point to distinguish him from his father?
|
This seems like as good a time as any to bring up the traditional French Canadian naming convention. (I have no idea if they ever did things this way in France.)
Basically, the given name that's closest to your surname (so the last given name) is supposed to be your real given name that you use every day.
So "Joseph Yvon Jacques Tremblay" at school or the office is known as Jacques Tremblay.
If two given names are to be used then they are hyphened: "Joseph Yvon Jean-Pierre Pelletier" is the Jean-Pierre Pelletier you know.
This differs from what I have noticed to be the usual anglo convention which is that the "middle name" is usually not in every day use.
"William Robert Smith" is simply William or Bill Smith.
Also, French Canadian children were traditionally given Joseph or Marie as the first given name, followed by the other given name(s).
I have Joseph as my first given name and my wife has Marie. Neither of us has ever used Joseph or Marie in any capacity.
Of course, like anywhere else the naming of kids is now a mishmash of conventions here, and I suppose lots of people in Quebec aren't even aware of what I just posted.
There are still are tons of people who give Joseph and Marie as first names to their kids, often more out of tradition than religious fervour.