I'm not sure if this is right, but when asking this same question, I was told that it refers to "of" or "known as" or "called". For example, my ancestor was Caroline Franche dit Laframboise. Laframboise is French for strawberry. My ancestor's family were strawberry farmers. Thus the "dit Laframboise" meant "of the strawberry". It was a French cousin who told me, so I assumed he was right. :-) Regi -----Original Message----- From: qc-etanglo-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:qc-etanglo-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David J. Ellis Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:39 PM To: qc-etanglo@rootsweb.com Subject: [QC-ETANGLO] French "dit" names... Can anyone explain the use of "dit" names by the French speaking community? I have come across them a few time in the various census records but because they do not apply to the lines that I am researched I have not paid much attention to them, figuring it was just a kind of alias. However, I saw two, fairly close together, in an 1825 census which were "Louis Gros dit St. Pierre" and "Antoine St. Pierre dit Gros". How does someone acquire a "dit" name? Why did they acquire one? What was the purpose behind it? I figure someone on this list must have some French blood in their ancestry and can educate us on this matter... ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to QC-ETANGLO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

My guess is that LaFramboise (after frambroise) was an easy and obvious choice for a dit name. Framboise means raspberry~and as LaFramboise was already a recognized surname, it was close enough for a strawberry farmer. Dit just means 'to say' doesn't it? -----Original Message----- From: qc-etanglo-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:qc-etanglo-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Regi Milan Sent: April 19, 2007 3:05 PM To: dr.ellis@physics.org; qc-etanglo@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [QC-ETANGLO] French "dit" names... I'm not sure if this is right, but when asking this same question, I was told that it refers to "of" or "known as" or "called". For example, my ancestor was Caroline Franche dit Laframboise. Laframboise is French for strawberry. My ancestor's family were strawberry farmers. Thus the "dit Laframboise" meant "of the strawberry". It was a French cousin who told me, so I assumed he was right. :-) Regi -----Original Message----- From: qc-etanglo-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:qc-etanglo-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David J. Ellis Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:39 PM To: qc-etanglo@rootsweb.com Subject: [QC-ETANGLO] French "dit" names... Can anyone explain the use of "dit" names by the French speaking community? I have come across them a few time in the various census records but because they do not apply to the lines that I am researched I have not paid much attention to them, figuring it was just a kind of alias. However, I saw two, fairly close together, in an 1825 census which were "Louis Gros dit St. Pierre" and "Antoine St. Pierre dit Gros". How does someone acquire a "dit" name? Why did they acquire one? What was the purpose behind it? I figure someone on this list must have some French blood in their ancestry and can educate us on this matter... ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to QC-ETANGLO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to QC-ETANGLO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message