The French Surname Le Guillou?

[stefanC]

This is my grandmother's maiden name. I find it interesting to find the meaning of the names of all of my ancestor's, but I've been having trouble with this one. There just doesn't seem to be much information on it. What I did find was the most concentrated area of the name.

http://www.publicprofiler.org/worldn...ountry_code=FR

So it seems that it is heavily concentrated in Bretagne, or what is in English Brittany. So that means my grandmother might have a lot of Gaulish ancestry right? She does have the stereotypical Celtic appearance, such as freckles, very curly thick reddish-brown hair, dark brown/hazel eyes(they change depending on lighting).

So does anybody have more information on this surname, it's meaning, and it's origins? Thanks for any contributions. Oh and I just wanted to know if it is alright to contribute with things that aren't Germanic related in this section of the forum? Half my ancestry is of low German or what is today dutch and some English as well, but I know a lot more about that part of my ancestry so I wouldn't really need to ask.

[Grey]

I don't know anything about that name specifically, though I'm certain it's related to the name Guillot (which appears in my family, and would be pronounced the same). Is she perhaps part Acadian?

This uncommon surname is of Old French origin, and was originally introduced into ngland at the time of the Norman Invasion in 1066. It is one of the varied group of derivative names generated by the male personal name "Guillaume", the Old French form of the ancient Germanic given name 'Wilhelm' composed of the elements "wil", meaning desire, and "helm", - protection. There are many double diminutives of "Guillaume", of which this surname above is a fine example. The earliest recordings of the derivative surnames as recorded in England, include such forms as Gwillotus Clerk in the London rolls of 1377 and Robertus Gillot in the 1379 Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire. Both French and English forms of the surname include Gillette, Gillett, Gillott, Guillet(on), Guillard, Guillart, Guilliatt (a 19th century Lincolnshire spelling), Guillot, Guillotin, Guillon (eau), Guillou(x), Guillond, and many others.

Source

So it seems that it is heavily concentrated in Bretagne, or what is in English Brittany. So that means my grandmother might have a lot of Gaulish ancestry right? She does have the stereotypical Celtic appearance, such as freckles, very curly thick reddish-brown hair, dark brown/hazel eyes(they change depending on lighting).

Strange, that sounds exactly like the Guillots in my area, who stand out from the rest of the Acadians. As far as I know, though, their ancestor came from Lyon, and all of his children took English wives, so that could be part of it as well.

[stefanC]

I don't know anything about that name specifically, though I'm certain it's related to the name Guillot (which appears in my family, and would be pronounced the same). Is she perhaps part Acadian?



Source




Strange, that sounds exactly like the Guillots in my area, who stand out from the rest of the Acadians. As far as I know, though, their ancestor came from Lyon, and all of his children took English wives, so that could be part of it as well.

No she wasn't an Acadian, if you mean the settlers of the Northeast America's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadians. Unfortunately I don't know much of my father's side of my ancestry past what countries they originated from and of course surname's. I doubt my grandmother knew anything more as well. Her mother was Spanish, and my grandmother was born in Spain only to move to Puerto Rico as a child. I would post a picture of her, but I'm still getting use to the rules of the forum, and I don't know if that would be considered as "personal classifying" or not. The information you gave me was very helpful though. It allows me to spread my resources to other forms of the name. If it helps at all, which I doubt it would, her first name was Irma(which actually turns out to being a form of the Germanic name Irmin which means "world").

Edit: I believe that this might have some connection as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te%C3%B...ADa_Le_Guillou

That is weird. The link doesn't work. I guess just search Teófilo José Jaime María Le Guillou in wikipedia

Maybe a distant relative of mine that somewhat inspired my great grandfather to go to Puerto Rico?