Show ContentsPerrot History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Perrot

What does the name Perrot mean?

The history of the Perrot name began during the Middle Ages in a region known as Brittany. The French name is derived from the popular French personal name Pierre, which comes from the ancient name Petros, or Peter, meaning "rock".

Early Origins of the Perrot family

The surname Perrot was first found in Brittany where they held a family seat in the seigneurie of Launay and Vieux Launay.

They also branched to the regions of Neufchatel, île-de-France, at Chazelle and Courcelles, the Franch Comte at Viseney, Paris (Ablancourt) and Geneva. They were elected to the noblesse as Barons of the Empire. The Pieroway variant is an interesting one. Some sources believe the name to be a Channel Islands variant and a branch of the family settled on Sandy Point, Newfoundland. Today the family can be found in Stephenville, St. Georges and in the Corner Brook area of Newfoundland. 1 Ada Pieroway of St. Georges, married Ronald MacDonald of Antigonish who won the second Boston Marathon in 1898 and Stella Pieroway, a teacher at St. Geroges, married James Ronald MacDonnell, Newfoundland politician who represented St. Georges in the Newfoundland House of Assembly from 1919 to 1923.

Jacques Perrault and his wife Marguerite (née Cache) of Saint-Jacques, Bourgogne, had two sons, François and Jacques. François, a merchant, and Jacques, a surgeon, travelled together to New France in the early 1700's. François married Suzanne Page, daughter of Guillaume and Elisabeth (née Letartre), in Quebec on 26th November 1715. Jacques married Marie-Elisabeth Navers, daughter of Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Françoise (née Sauvin), in Château-Richer on 10th January 1724. 2

Early History of the Perrot family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Perrot research. Another 24 words (2 lines of text) covering the years 1608, 1611, 1613, 1628, 1644, 1661, 1670, 1680, 1684, 1687, 1688, 1691, 1703 and 1717 are included under the topic Early Perrot History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Perrot Spelling Variations

History has changed the spelling of most surnames. During the early development of the French language in the Middle Ages, a person gave his version of his name, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. Some variables were adopted by different branches of the family name. Hence, there spelling variations of the name Perrot, some of which include Perot, Perrot, Perrotte, Perreault, Perault, Perrault, de Perrot, De Perrot, De Perot, De Perault, De Perrault, Perrott, Perrau, Perraut, Perroud, Peroud, Perraud, Perrauld, Perauld, Peraud, Perroux, Peroux and many more.

Early Notables of the Perrot family

Notable amongst this name at this time was

  • Nicolas Perrot (1644-1717), French explorer, diplomat, and fur trader, one of the first white men in the Upper Mississippi Valley
  • François-Marie Perrot (1644-1691), French Governor of Montreal by a royal commission in 1670, and later Governor of Acadia (1684-1687)

Perrot Ranking

In France, the name Perrot is the 146th most popular surname with an estimated 21,299 people with that name. 3


Perrot migration to the United States +

In 1643, 109 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 people in Quebec, in 1663 there were only 500, 2,000 migrants arrived during the next decade. Early marriage was desperately encouraged amongst the immigrants. Youths of 18 took fourteen-year-old girls for their wives. The fur trade was developed and attracted migrants, both noble and commoner from France. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Migration from France to New France or Quebec as it was now more popularly called, continued from France until it fell in 1759. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec. By the same year the Acadian presence in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had reached 500. In 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported to Louisiana. Meanwhile, in Quebec, the French race flourished, founding in Lower Canada, one of the two great solitudes which became Canada. Many distinguished contributions have been made by members of this family name Perrot. It has been prominent in the arts, religion, politics and culture in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Perrot were

Perrot Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Richard Perrot, who arrived in Virginia in 1657 4
Perrot Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Thomas Perrot, who landed in America in 1760-1763 4
Perrot Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • John Perrot, aged 46, who arrived in New York in 1812 4
  • Charles Perrot, who settled in New Orleans in 1822
  • Ferdinand Perrot, who landed in New York in 1825 4
  • Michael Perrot, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1846 4
  • Cecelia Perrot, aged 50, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1858 4

Perrot migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Perrot Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century
  • Jacques Perrot, son of Jean and Mathurine, who married Michelle Le Flot, daughter of Antoine and Marguerite, in Quebec on 31st August 1654 5
  • Paul Perrot, son of Simon and Marguerite, who married Marie Chrétien, daughter of Anselm and Anne, in Montreal, Quebec on 4th November 1670 5
  • Nicolas Perrot, son of François and Marie, who married Marie-Madeleine Raclot, daughter of Idebon and Marie, in Quebec on 11th November 1671 5
  • Jean Perrot, son of Mathurin and Marie, who married Françoise Bourgeois, daughter of Nicolas and Claire, in Repentigny, Quebec on 2nd March 1688 5
  • Jacques Perrot, son of Jacques and Michelle, who married Anne Gagné, daughter of Pierre and Catherine, in Montreal, Quebec on 11th October 1690 5
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Perrot Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century
  • Claude Perrot, son of Nicolas and Marie-Madeleine, who married Marie Goulet, daughter of Charles and Marie-Anne, in Repentigny, Quebec on 9th July 1714 5
  • Bertrand Perrot, son of Joseph and Marie, who married Madeleine Guyon, daughter of Claude and Marie-Madeleine, in Sainte-Famille-de-l'île-d'Orléans, Quebec on 25th February 1715 5
  • Bertrand Perrot, son of Joseph and Marie, who married Angélique Simon, daughter of Guillaume and Catherine, in Château-Richer, Quebec on 1st August 1717 5
  • Barthélemi-François Perrot, son of Joseph and Marie, who married Dorothée Brisson, daughter of René and Geneviève, in Château-Richer, Quebec on 17th April 1719 5
  • Adrien Perrot, son of Pierre and Geneviève, who married Barbe Rivard, daughter of François and Madeleine, in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, Quebec on 30th October 1730 5
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Perrot migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Perrot Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Perrot migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 7
Perrot Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century
  • Samuel Perrot, who settled in Barbados in 1678 with his wife Sarah, and daughter Sarah
  • Samuel Perrot, who settled in Barbados in 1678
Perrot Settlers in West Indies in the 18th Century
  • Thomas Perrot, who settled in Jamaica in 1762

Contemporary Notables of the name Perrot (post 1700) +

  • Kim Perrot (1967-1999), American WNBA basketball player
  • Michelle Perrot (b. 1928), French historian, Professor emeritus at the Paris Diderot University, recipient of the 2009 Prix Femina Essai
  • Jean Perrot (1920-2012), French archaeologist
  • Henri Perrot (1883-1961), French engineer, one of the pioneers of the automobile industry who held numerous patents in the field of automotive shoe-braking
  • Georges Perrot (1832-1914), French archaeologist
  • Jean-Marie Perrot (1877-1943), French priest
  • Jules-Joseph Perrot (1810-1892), French dancer and choreographer, Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Geroge Perrot (1710-1780), English Baron of the Exchequer, belonged to the Yorkshire branch of the Perrots of Pembrokeshire
  • Xavier Roger Perrot (1932-2008), Swiss Formula One racing driver


  1. Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland Montreal: McGill's-Queen's University Press 1998. Print. (ISBN 0-7735-1782-0)
  2. Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
  3. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
  4. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  5. Internoscia, Arthur E., and Claire Chevrier. Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français 1608-1760. Vol. 2, Institut Drouin, 1958.
  6. State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2015, January 8) Argyle voyage to Van Diemen's Land, Australia in 1831 with 251 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/argyle/1831
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies


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