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Boulanger History Etymology Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables World Ranking

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Sources

Boulanger History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France

Etymology of Boulanger

What does the name Boulanger mean?

Normandy is the region of ancient France from which the name Boulanger was derived. It comes from when the family lived at Anger in Normandy. The prefix of the name, "bel", means beautiful and it is believed that it was originally describing the place that it originates from as beautiful.

Early Origins of the Boulanger family

The surname Boulanger was first found in Normandy (French: Normandie), the former Duchy of Normandy, where they held a family seat from ancient times.

The family branched into different regions of France including Poitou, and the lands of Hainière in Flanders (Belguim) where they adapted the spelling of their name to Boulengier and appear as a notable family in that region. Additionally, they held the estates of Pistor in Lorraine, and Montigny in Hainaut. By the 16th century, the family branched again and acquired estates at Remfort in Anjou, Thorigny in Maine and Brie. Many members of the Thorigny family contributed greatly during the conflicts of the times and are recorded as esteemed individuals. 1

François Belanger, born in 1612, son of François and Françoise (née Horlays), travelled from Saint-Pierre de Seez to Quebec in 1636. He married Marie Guyon on 12th July 1637 and together they had thirteen children, five of which were sons that carried on the family name of Belanger. 2

Early History of the Boulanger family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Boulanger research. Another 69 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1606, 1660, 1786, 1811, 1845 and 1850 are included under the topic Early Boulanger History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Boulanger 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 Boulanger, some of which include Belanger, Belangée, Bellanger, Belenger, Baranger, Barranger, Barringer, Bellenger, Bellinguier, Beranger, Beringer, Beringier, Beringuier, Bezanger, Boulanger, Belanget, Bellanget, Belenget, Bellenget, Bellinger and many more.

Early Notables of the Boulanger family

Notable amongst the family in this period was

Lord Bellanger of Thorigny; and Jean Boulanger (1606-1660), a French artist active in Italy during the Baroque period, probably best known for his frescoes at the Ducal palace of Sassuolo
Mme. Marie Julie Boulanger, (née Halligner), born 1786, died 1850; was a dramatic singer. She studied in the Conservatoire under Plantade and Garat, and made her début with immense success at the Opér...

Boulanger World Ranking

In the United States, the name Boulanger is the 9,738^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 3 However, in Canada, the name Boulanger is ranked the 577^th most popular surname with an estimated 8,628 people with that name. 4 And in Quebec, Canada, the name Boulanger is the 233^rd popular surname. 5 France ranks Boulanger as 154^th with 20,849 people. 6

Boulanger migration to the United States +

By 1643 there were only about 300 people in Quebec. Since immigration was slow, early marriage was desperately encouraged amongst the immigrants. The fur trade attracted migrants, both noble and commoner. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries. 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. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of the two great founding nations of Canada. The distinguished family name Boulanger has made significant contributions to the culture, arts, sciences and religion of France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Boulanger were

Boulanger Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Charles Boulanger, aged 30, settled in Louisiana in 1719
Charles Boulanger, aged 30, who arrived in Louisiana in 1719 7
Nicolaus Boulanger, who landed in New York, NY in 1782 7

Boulanger Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Joseph Boulanger, aged 17, who landed in New York in 1812 7
Frances Boulanger, aged 25, who landed in New York in 1812-1813 7
Francis Boulanger, aged 25, who arrived in New York in 1812 7
Jean Joseph Paschale Boulanger, who landed in Annapolis, Maryland in 1825 7
Jean Joseph Paschale Boulanger, who settled in Annapolis in 1825
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Boulanger migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Boulanger Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

Jean Boulanger, son of Claude and Marie, who married Reine Mesny, daughter of Etienne and Catherine, in Quebec on 1690 8

Boulanger Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Joseph Boulanger, son of Pierre and Marie-Reine, who married Élisabeth Moete, daughter of Pierre and Élisabeth, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec on 7th January 1728 8
Claude Boulanger, son of Jean-Baptiste and Reine, who married Suzanne Bissonnet, daughter of Jacques and Marie, in Beaumont, Quebec on 14th May 1736 8
Claude Boulanger, son of Claude and Marie, who married Brigitte Goupil, daughter of Antoine and Marie-Françoise, in Saint-Michel, Quebec on 4th August 1749 8
Claude Boulanger, son of Claude and Marie, who married Marie-Josephte Asselin, daughter of Louis and Marie-Marthe, in Saint-François-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Quebec on 4th May 1751 8
Jean-Baptiste Boulanger, son of Lefebvre and Elisabeth Fugère, married Louise Parant in Québec in 1761
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Boulanger (post 1700) +

Xavier Boulanger (1962-2020), French stage and film actor
Gérard Boulanger (1948-2018), French lawyer and human rights activist
Servais Beaudouin Boulanger, French Brigadier General during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1789 to 1815 9
Daniel Boulanger (1922-2014), French novelist, playwright, poet and screenwriter, member of the Académie Goncourt from 1983 until his death
Paul Boulanger (1905-1996), French physician, Knight of the Legion of Honour
Juliette Marie Olga "Lili" Boulanger (1893-1918), French composer
Nadia-Juliette Boulanger (1887-1979), French music teacher and conductor
Georges Ernest Jean Marie Boulanger (1837-1891), French soldier and statesman
Mousse Boulanger (1926-2023), born Berthe Sophie Neuenschwander, a Swiss poet, actress, and television producer

Historic Events for the Boulanger family +

Pan Am Flight 103 (Lockerbie)

Nicole Elise Boulanger (1967-1988), American Student from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, America, who flew aboard the Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit, known as the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 and died 10

Sources +

Hozier, Charles D, and Antoine Bachelin-Delforenne. État présent De La Noblesse française (1883-1887): Contenant Le Distionnaire De La Noblesse Contemporaine Et Larmorial général De France, Dapres Les Manuscrits De Ch. D Hozier. Librairie Des Bibliophiles, 1884. Print.
Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
"Surnames Meanings, Origins & Distribution Maps - Forebears." Forebears, https://forebears.io/surnames
"The first 1,000 family names by rank, Quebec (in French only)" Institut de la statistique du Quebec, https://statistique.quebec.ca/en/document/family-names-in-quebec/tableau/the-first-1000-family-names-by-rank-quebec
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
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)
Internoscia, Arthur E., and Claire Chevrier. Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français 1608-1760. Vol. 1, Institut Drouin, 1958.
Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789-1815. (Retrieved 2015, February 11) Servais Boulanger. Retrieved from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/c_frenchgenerals.html
Pan Am Flight 103's victims: A list of those killed 25 years ago | syracuse.com. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/pan_am_flight_103s_victims_a_list_of_those_killed_25_years_ago.html