Denys History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
France

Etymology of Denys

What does the name Denys mean?

The surname Denis is one of the oldest family names to come from the French region known as Bretagne, or Brittany in English. It is derived from the Greek given name Dionysios, which means a follower of the Greek god of the same name. Much of the popularity of the name Denys is due to the fact that it was borne by the 3rd century Bishop of Paris who later became the patron saint of France.

Early Origins of the Denys family

The surname Denys was first found in Champagne, where this illustrious family held a family seat since ancient times. By the 14th century the family was well established in the region of Thiérache and several members of the family distinguished themselves through their contributions to the community in which they lived and were rewarded with lands, titles and letters patent confirming their nobility.

From the original line of Thiérache, the family branched, expanded, and prospered. Resulting from this expansion, the members of the family had their names recorded with a variety of spellings. As the members of the many branches were involved politically and culturally in their region, they were recorded in the ancient surveys. From the ancient records of the Denisard branch, Adam of la Capelle is recorded in Thiérache in 1340, Jehan is noted in 1360 and Mahieu is registered in 1404. From the Denise branch, Bernard appears in 1294, Pierre in 1384, Jehan Denise rendered homage in 1390, and Jacques appears in a census of 1448. As well, from the ancient cartularies Jehan Denisot is mentioned in 1438. 1

Early History of the Denys family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Denys research. Another 69 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1598, 1610, 1643, 1644, 1659, 1670, 1688, 1700, 1704, 1706, 1708, 1711 and 1715 are included under the topic Early Denys History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Denys Spelling Variations

Throughout the course of history most surnames have undergone changes for many reasons. During the early development of the French language, a son and father may not have chosen to spell their name the same way. Many are simple spelling changes by a person who gave his name, phonetically, to a scribe, priest, or recorder. Many names held prefixes or suffixes which became optional as they passed through the centuries, or were adopted by different branches to signify either a political or religious adherence. Hence, we have many spelling variations of this name, Denys some of which are Denis, Dennis, Denys, Dennys, Denice, Denise, Deniset, Deniseau, Denison, Denisard, Denizot, Denizon and many more.

Early Notables of the Denys family

Notable amongst the family during this period was

Frans Denys (c. 1610-1670), a Flemish Baroque painter mainly of portraits
Jacob Denys (1644-1708) was a Flemish Baroque painter
Nicolas Denys (1598?-1688), a French aristocrat who became an explorer, colonizer, soldier and leader in New France, founder of settlements at St. Pierre (now St. Peter's, Nova Scotia), Ste. Anne (Eng...
Jean-Baptiste Denys (1643-1704), a French physician, known for having performed the first fully documented human blood transfusion

Denys Ranking

In France, the name Denys is the 1,899^th most popular surname with an estimated 3,250 people with that name. 2

Denys 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 Denys. 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 Denys were

Denys Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Margaritje Denys, who arrived in America in 1649 3

Denys migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Denys Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

Antoine Denys, who landed in Canada in 1642

Contemporary Notables of the name Denys (post 1700) +

Marie-José Denys (1950-2022), French politician, member of the Socialist Party, she served in the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994 and again from 1997 to 1999
Pierre Denys, contemporary French physician who co-discovered Denys-Drash syndrome
André C. Denys (1948-2013), Belgian politician, Governor of the province East Flanders from 2004 to 2013
Herbert Denys Hake OBE (1894-1975), English cricketer who played for Hampshire (1920-1925) and Cambridge University (1920-1921), he emigrated to Australia where he became Chairman of Conference of the Headmasters' Conference of the Independent Schools of Australia
Georges-Henri Denys Arcand CC GOQ (b. 1941), Canadian Academy Award nominated film director who has won numerous award including eight Genie awards, for his film "Le Déclin de L'Empire Americain" (The Decline of the American Empire)
Denys Graham (1926-2024), Welsh actor who appeared in the later series of Rumpole of the Bailey
Denys Kostyuk (b. 1982), Ukrainian former professional road bicycle racer
Denys Chomel, French graphic artist, Paris
Denys Vitaliovich Dubrov (1989-2022), Ukrainian swimmer who competed in Paralympic S10 and SM10 (individual medley) events; he won three gold, three silver and two bronze medals
Denys Hay (1915-1994), English historian who specialized in medieval and Renaissance Europe

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.
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)