Hi the list, hi Rick Excuse the late answer please, Beware the naming patterns in french speaking Switzerland are rather strange. At a certain time as some families became so huge in their area and as the firstnames were too much common, some nickname were added to the names. ie my Huguenin ancestor became Huguenin-Virchaux because he bought an acre of land to Mr Virchaux. In some other cases a physical particularity or first name was included the name ie Grandguillaume-Perrenoud where Grandguillaume shall be translated as Longbill. In some other cases the "dit (french) or "dict" (old french) was added with an other name (mostly of place) like Calame-dit-Rosset. I would say that if you want to trace your roots on the xxx-dit-du-Vivier side, you must know that the original name must be xxx (you didn't precize it) and that one branch became xxx-dit-du-Vivier . These changing of name took mostly place at 16th & 17th century. Sincerely Guillaume ----- Message d'origine ----- De : Rick Charpie <r.charpie@worldnet.att.net> À : <SWITZERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Envoyé : jeudi 16 mars 2000 03:39 Objet : [SWITZ] translations > Since this seems to be the "hot topic" at present, maybe someone can shed a > little light on a phrase for me. our family is from bevilard, SW. I have a > copy of a family chart that was drawn in 1905, possibly from older sources. > One entry is for a female who married a first cousin of the same surname (so > noted, in French, on the chart. Under the name of the spouse it says "dit du > Vivier emigre aux Etats Unis, le Mai 1825." We get the emigre aux EU, etc., > but the first part eludes our ability to translate. Is hand-written, so > might possibly be "dit au Vivier" or "dif du vivier". The question, is this > some kind of standard phrase or notation having to do with emigration. > Thanks for any help. > > Rick Charpie > surname AKA Charpier, Charpiez, Charpy, Sharpie, Sherpy, Charpia, Sharpee, > Charpie (e-accent), Charpea, and possibly Charpilla. > > > ==== SWITZERLAND Mailing List ==== > Support RootsWeb! Help provide FREE genealogical resources on the > Internet: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html >