Show ContentsKartes History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Kartes was originally an occupational name borne by someone who worked as a transporter of goods. It is derived from the Anglo-Norman French word "caretier".

Early Origins of the Kartes family

The surname Kartes was first found in Normandy (French: Normandie), the former Duchy of Normandy, where this family has held a family seat since the ancient times.

The family contributed greatly to the affairs of the King and the country as Barons, Ambassadors, and in the military service and they established branches as Cartier de Boiscurtil in Lyonnais; Cartier de Couronneau in Navarre, Guyenne; Cartier Bresson, in Lorraine; Fabron, in Provence; Cartier de Saint-Plansois, de Saint-Maur, Normandy; Yve, de Marchienne, Belgium; Cartier de la Chauvellerie, de Vermette in Poitou; Cartier de St-Malo, from which the navigator Jacques Cartier came; Cartier de Forvie in Liege; Cartier de la Malmaison in Ile-de-France and Poitou; and Cartier of Geneva and Hainaut. 1

The head of the Cartier family in Hainaut received his letters patent of nobility in August 1823 as Baron Cartier. 1

Early History of the Kartes family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kartes research. Another 67 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1086, 1491, 1534, 1557, 1765, 1783, 1791, 1804, 1830 and 1841 are included under the topic Early Kartes History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kartes Spelling Variations

Throughout the course of history most surnames have undergone changes for many reasons. During the early development of the French language, a son and father may not have chosen to spell their name the same way. Many are simple spelling changes by a person who gave his name, phonetically, to a scribe, priest, or recorder. Many names held prefixes or suffixes which became optional as they passed through the centuries, or were adopted by different branches to signify either a political or religious adherence. Hence, we have many spelling variations of this name, Kartes some of which are Cartier, Cartié, Cartiée, Cartiais, Cartiaie, Cartiey, Cartiay, Cartiet, Carthier, Cartiers, Cartyer, Cartyers, Kartier, Kartié, Kartiée, Kartiais, Kartiaie, Kartiey, Kartiay, Kartiet, Karthier, Kartiers, Kartyer, Kartyers, Carttier, Carttié, Carttiée, Carttiais, Carttiaie, Carttiey, Carttiay, Carttiet, Cartthier, Carttiers, Carttyer, Carttyers, Charretier, Carretier, Charreter and many more.

Early Notables of the Kartes family

Notable amongst the family in this period was Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) of St-Malo, French; he was a navigator who found Newfoundland in 1534, explored St. Lawrence River, and claimed Canada in the name of French Kings François I.Jean Baptiste Cartier, a French violinist, born at Avignon in 1765; the son of a dancing-master. His first teacher on the violin was an Abbé Walrauf. In 1783 he went to Paris and continued his studies under Viotti...
Another 74 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Kartes Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Kartes family

By 1643 there were only about 300 people in Quebec. Since immigration was slow, early marriage was desperately encouraged amongst the immigrants. The fur trade attracted migrants, both noble and commoner. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries. 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 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported to Louisiana. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of the two great founding nations of Canada. The distinguished family name Kartes has made significant contributions to the culture, arts, sciences and religion of France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Kartes were Robert Cartier, who arrived in Plymouth on the Mayflower, in 1620; Pierre Cartier, who married Catherine Gauthier in 1675; Helene Cartier, who emigrated from La Rochelle to Quebec in 1657.


Contemporary Notables of the name Kartes (post 1700) +

  • Gus Kartes (b. 1981), American soccer player for Greek descent, member of the United States National Team in 1997


  1. Hozier, Charles D, and Antoine Bachelin-Delforenne. État présent De La Noblesse française (1883-1887): Contenant Le Distionnaire De La Noblesse Contemporaine Et Larmorial général De France, Dapres Les Manuscrits De Ch. D Hozier. Librairie Des Bibliophiles, 1884. Print.


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