What’s in a name?
You may have noticed in some of my posts that there are ancestor’s surnames that contain the word dit (the feminine form is dite), pronounced “dee”. The word means “said” or “also known as”. One can think of it as an alias or a nickname. Often it would distinguish a person or a branch of a family from another. Many dit names were derived from the occupation, town of origin or physical features of the individual.
We have many relatives with dit names, but the only Vadnais name I know of with a dit name is Jean Baptiste Vadenay dit d’Argenteuil which loosely translates as Jean Baptiste Vadenay said from Argenteuil. Argenteuil is a suburb of Paris, France.
His wife was Marie Anne Marguerite Mousseau dite Desilets. Desilets is a fusion of 2 words and it refers to someone who lived by a group of small islands.
Jean Baptiste Vadenay dit d’Argenteuil and Marie Anne Marguerite Mousseau dite Desilets are 6th great-grandparents.
Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cindy
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