Desportes History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
England

Noble surnames, such as Desportes, evoke images of the ancient homeland of the French people. The original bearer of the name Desportes, which is a local surname, once lived, held land, or was born in the beautiful region of France. In France, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and during the late Middle Ages, names that were derived from localities became increasingly widespread. Local names originally denoted the proprietorship of the village or estate. The Desportes family originally lived near a door or gate of particular interest, such as the gates to a fortified city or a unusually large or unique door. The name Desportes is derived from the Old French words "la" and "porte," which mean "the" and "door" respectively.

Early Origins of the Desportes family

The surname Desportes was first found in Berry, a former province until 1790 when it became a region in central France where this distinguished family held a family seat in d'Ysserteux, and were members of the aristocratic families of the region. In the same region of Berry they also branched to Riants.

The family moved north into Brittany at Kerduault, and to L'Estang and to Cree'Hanton in Brittany. They became the Barons de Vezins in that region. At Crozon in Brittany they became elevated to the nobility as the Comtes de Crozon. They also branched to Dauphiné to the south east, to Anjou (Vellade), to Perigord (Lubignac), and Theil in Poitou. They also branched south to Guyenne. The Marquis de la Porte eventually became the Comtes d'Hust and held a family seat in the west of France at Saintonge, Angoumois and Perigord.

Jacques Laporte, born in 1621, travelled from Perche, France to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Nicole Duchesne, born in 1641, at Montreal in 1657. 1

Early History of the Desportes family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Desportes research. The years 1602, 1664, 1675, 1704, 1741, 1749, 1768, 1773, 1782 and 1818 are included under the topic Early Desportes History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Desportes Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Laport, Laporte, De La Porte, LaPort, LaPorte, Laporter, Laportere, Laporterie, Lapotre, Port, Porte, Porter, Portere, Porterie, Potre and many more.

Early Notables of the Desportes family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Charles de La Porte (1602-1664), a French nobleman and general, Marquis and later Duke of La Meilleraye and Duke of Rethel; and Roland Laporte (1675-1704), a French Protestant (Camisard) leader, also known as Roland.Jean-Pierre Duport (1741-1818) was a French cellist, born at Paris, Nov. 27, 1741. Considered the best pupil of Berthaut. Soon achieved a great reputation in Paris, but after 10 years of success started on a lengthened tour through England and Spain, and finally in 1773, on the invitation of Frederick the Great, settled at Berlin as first cello in the...
Another 136 words (10 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Desportes Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Desportes Ranking

In France, the name Desportes is the 7,033^rd most popular surname with an estimated 1,000 - 1,500 people with that name. 2

Desportes migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Desportes Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

M Desportes, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1850 3

Citations +

Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. 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)