Show ContentsFoyer History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The French name Foyer was first used in the province of Auvergne. It was a name for someone who lived in Auvergne.

Early Origins of the Foyer family

The surname Foyer was first found in Auvergne, a historic province in south central France.

Early History of the Foyer family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Foyer research. The years 1632, 1649, 1655, 1730, 1775, 1779, 1793, 1805, 1815, 1817, 1822 and 1860 are included under the topic Early Foyer History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Foyer Spelling Variations

Most surnames have experienced slight spelling changes. A son may not chose to spell his name the same way that his father did. Many were errors, many deliberate. During the early development of the French language, a person usually gave his version, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. Prefixes or suffixes varied. They were optional as they passed through the centuries, or were adopted by different branches to signify either a political or religious adherence. Hence, there a many spelling variations of the name Foyer, including Defoy, De Foy, Foy, Foyatier, Foye, Foyot, Foyer, Le Foyer, Lefoyer and many more.

Early Notables of the Foyer family

Notable amongst the family was

  • Charles Foyer studied at the ecclesiastic college and in 1793 was elected captain of the parish of Notre-Dame of Beaupréau, for the Mauges Army


United States Foyer migration to the United States +

Migration from France to New France or Quebec as it was now more popularly called, continued from France until it fell in 1759. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec. By the same year the Acadian presence in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had reached 500. In the treaty of Utrecht, the Acadians were ceded by France to Britain in 1713. In 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported. They found refuge in Louisiana. In 1793, the remaining French in these provinces came under British rule. Meanwhile, in Quebec, the French race flourished, founding in Lower Canada, one of the two great solitudes which became Canada. Many of this distinguished family name Foyer were prominent in social, cultural, religious and political affairs in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Foyer were

Foyer Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Pierre Foyer, aged 19, who landed in Louisiana in 1719 1

Contemporary Notables of the name Foyer (post 1700) +

  • Jean Gustave Foyer, academic with the status of Ancient Minister and lives in Chateauneuf-sur-Sarthe, France

Bismarck
  • Johannes Foyer (1919-1941), German Matrosenobergefreiter who served aboard the German Battleship Bismarck during World War II when it was sunk heading to France; he died in the sinking 2


  1. 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)
  2. Bismarck & Tirpitz Class - Crew List Bismarck. (Retrieved 2018, February 06). Retrieved from https://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/crew/bismarck_crew.html#crew_details


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