Desroches History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France

From the beautiful region of Burgundy (French: Bourgogne), in France, comes the distinguished surname Desroches. Desroches is a topographic surname, a type of hereditary surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came. The name Desroches is derived from the French word "roche," meaning "rock," and indicates that the original bearer was distinguished by residence near a prominent rock.

Early Origins of the Desroches family

The surname Desroches was first found in Burgundy (French: Bourgogne), an administrative and historical region of east-central France, where this ancient family was recognized as one of the original families of the region. Saint Roch or Rocco (c. 1295-1327) was a Catholic saint, a confessor. He is a patron saint of dogs, falsely accused people, and bachelors. He may have been born c. 1348 and died c. 1376.

The house of des Roches de Chassay was cited since 1275. The family des Roches de Chassay had their nobility confirmed in 1663, after heroic service at the siege of Hesdin. The county of Bigorre, in Burgundy, was the cradle of the house de la Roche-Fontenille, distinguished by their alliances and who occupied in the twelfth century a high rank in the nobility of the province. Two of their members took part in the first crusade of Saint-Louis, but their affiliation was not established until Sanche de la Roche, lord of Fontenille, deceased in the year 1318.

Jean Desroches, born in 1621, travelled from France to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Françoise Gode, born in 1636, daughter of Nicolas and Françoise (née Gadois), at Montreal on 18th November 1647. They remained together in Quebec until Jean's death on 23rd August 1684. 1

Early History of the Desroches family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Desroches research. Another 123 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1470, 1530, 1644, 1658, 1668, 1710, 1724, 1741, 1797 and 1856 are included under the topic Early Desroches History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Desroches Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Roche, Delaroche, Deroche, Desroches, Desrochers, Laroche, La Roche and many more.

Early Notables of the Desroches family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Estienne de La Roche (1470-1530), a French mathematician; Anne de La Roche-Guilhem (1644-1710), a French writer; and Hippolyte de la Roche, also know as Paul, (1797-1856), a...
Another 34 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Desroches Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Desroches World Ranking

In the United States, the name Desroches is the 11,088^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 2 However, in Canada, the name Desroches is ranked the 811^st most popular surname with an estimated 6,639 people with that name. 3 And in Quebec, Canada, the name Desroches is the 426^th popular surname. 4 France ranks Desroches as 2,949^th with 2,000 - 2,500 people. 5

Desroches migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Desroches Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

Jean Desroches, who landed in Montreal in 1647

Contemporary Notables of the name Desroches (post 1700) +

Reginald DesRoches (b. 1967), American civil engineer and academic, 8th President of Rice University (2022-)
Theophile Jean DesRoches, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Massachusetts, 1956, 1964 (alternate) 6
Henri Desroches (1914-1994), French sociologist
Christiane Desroches (1913-2011), French Egyptologist
Steve Desroches (b. 1969), Canadian politician, Deputy Mayor of Ottawa (2010-2014)
Joseph Armand DesRoches, Canadian jurist, the first Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island with Acadian heritage
Tyler DesRoches, Canadian politician, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island for Summerside-Wilmot (2023-)
Gilbert DesRoches (1848-1915), Canadian merchant, farmer and political figure in Prince Edward Island
Dave "Rave" DesRoches, Canadian rock musician

Citations +

Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
"Surnames Meanings, Origins & Distribution Maps - Forebears." Forebears, https://forebears.io/surnames
"The first 1,000 family names by rank, Quebec (in French only)" Institut de la statistique du Quebec, https://statistique.quebec.ca/en/document/family-names-in-quebec/tableau/the-first-1000-family-names-by-rank-quebec
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2017, April 12) Theophile DesRoches. Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html