Spelling Variations In the H始ault Family Name
Stephen Charles Eno
The following is a list of variations in the spellings of the family name and various inherited dit names that have been found in records concerning Jacques ハaud dit Canada and his descendents.
The list is divided into two parts: spelling variations in the family name and spelling variations in various dit names inherited by Jacques' descendents.
It's important to distinguish between spelling variations of a particular family name or dit name and a true "dit" name.
Fortunately, this is fairly easy. Spelling variants of a name will sound approximately the same when pronounced in French, while dit names are almost always quite different in spelling and, more importantly, pronunciation (there are a few dit names that are based on the original family name). Spelling variants will never appear together in the form "ハaud dit H始aust" or "ハault dit H始aud" in an original record (although the name may be spelled different ways in different places in the same record). A dit name is hereditary family sobriquet, or "nickname", that was first born by a specific ancestor and that has been passed down to his (or occasionally her) descendents.
To give a more concrete example, in the records contained in the PRDH only, the name of Pierre H始ault dit Fresni俊e, a specific individual, is written "ハaud" in his own baptism record (1694), "H始eau dit Fresni俊e" in his marriage contract (1720); "Hainault" in the baptisms of sons Pierre (1720) and Fran腔is (1725); "ハault" in the baptism of son Nicolas (1723); "H始aud" in the baptism of daughter Genevi竣e (1727); "H始ault" in the baptism of son Simon (1730), marriage contract of son Nicolas (1747) and marriages of son Simon (1753) and daughter Marie-Jos術he (1753); "H始ault dit Fresni俊e" in the baptism of daughter Marie-Jos術he (1732); "Aineaux" in the marriage contract of son Pierre (1745); "H始ault dit Fr始ier dit Canada" in the marriage of daughter Marie-Genevi竣e (1747); "H始aust dit Canada" in the marriage of son Fran腔is (1757); "H始aust" in the marriage of daughter Marie-Madeleine (1757); "H始ault dit Fresni俊e" in the marriage of daughter Marie-Anne (1761), and "H始aust dit Fr始i俊e dit Canada" in his own burial record (1756).
So which of these is the "correct" spelling or even the correct "name". The answer is both none of them and all of them. None of them because Pierre couldn't read or write and thus he didn't spell his name in any particular way at all. All of them because they all are attempts by others to represent phonetically the sound of the name as Pierre spoke it, in a consistent manner too, I'm sure. Thus, no one can really say that this spelling or the other is the "correct" name.
So what do we do? There's no standard for this, unfortunately, but I think that we should strive for a system that is straightforward and consistent, that aids rather than hampers attempts to follow specific family lines, and that does not lead those who read our work afterwards down the wrong path (such as supplying a dit name for a family when none exists or by arbitrarily using a dit name that properly belongs to the descendents of a different family with the same family name).
Variations in surname spelling appearing in records of the descendants of Jacques ハaud:
ハaud, ハau, ハault, ハaus, ハaut, ハaux, ハeau, ハeault, ハo, ハos, ハot, ハost
H始ault, H始au, H始aud, H始auld, H始aut, H始auts, H始aust, H始aux, H始eau, H始eaud, H始eault, H始as, H始o, H始os, Hesnault
Esnault, Esnau, Esnaud, Esnaut, Esneault, Esno
Hainault, Hainau, Hainaut, Haineau, Haineault, Hainoult, Haynault, Heineau, Heinaut
Aineault, Hoinoult, Eynaud, H始ouil
Hunault, Hunaut, Huneau
Ano (in upstate New York and Vermont)
Dit names taken by the descendants of Jacques ハaud and their spelling variations:
Canada, Cada, Cadat, Cadot, Cadotte, Cadeau
Fresni俊e, Fr始i俊e, Fr始ier
Delorme
Portneuf, Porneuf, Port Neuf, Por Neuf
Coq
(c) 2005 Stephen Charles Eno
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