Hi Thanks to Tony Fuller. I shall, indeed, get in touch with Mr. Nash as I hadn't heard of those "servants of the Empire" which he mentions. Thanks to Hanne Thorup Koudal. It was very kind of you to look up my surname in the way that you did. I am well aware of the history of the name in Holland and later in South Africa etc. I also know that my ancestor Jean Blignaut is mentioned in the records of the Walloon Bibliotheque in Leide. I would,nevertheless, be interested in what you find after you have finished with BLOND/LEBLOND - do those names figure in your ancestry? Perhaps I misled everybody in my previous post because the questions I was asking have more to do with the origin of French surnames than with Huguenot family history. However, all correspondence is welcome! Thanks again Martin Blignaut -- Martin moslins1@fastmail.fm -- http://www.fastmail.fm - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service