Show ContentsMorain History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Morain was spawned from the landscape of northern France known as Normandy during the Middle Ages. It comes from the popular Old French given name Maurice.

Early Origins of the Morain family

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

The most unusual descendant of this family was Simon Morin, a visionary, who proclaimed himself as the Son of God and as a result was burned alive in 1663. Several essays were written on him. Two other well known members were Etienne (1625-1700), who was an Orientalist and a Calvinist minister, and Abbot Louis Morin (1636-1715), who was a respected physician and botanist, and a member of the Academy of the Sciences.

Pierre Morin was born in Normandy in 1639. He came to New France and married Marie Martin at Port-Royal, Acadia in 1661. They eventually settled in Beaubassin, Quebec, where Pierre died in 1690. Pierre and Marie had at least twelve children together that carried on the family name of Morin. 1

Early History of the Morain family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Morain research. Another 87 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1484, 1499, 1583, 1591, 1630, 1642, 1656, 1659, 1677, 1702 and 1745 are included under the topic Early Morain History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Morain 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, Morain some of which are Morin, Morins, Morrin, Morrins, Morain, Morains, Morrain, Morrains, Maurin, Maurrin, Maurain, Maurrain, Moren, Morren, Morein, Morrein, de Morin and many more.

Early Notables of the Morain family

Another 43 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Morain Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Morain family

In the 1700s, land incentives were finally given out by France to 2,000 migrants. Early marriage was encouraged in New France, and youths of 18 took fourteen-year-old girls for their wives. The fur trade was developed and attracted migrants, both noble and commoner from France. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries, leaving French names scattered across the continent. The search for the Northwest passage continued. Migration from France to New France or Quebec, as it was now more popularly called, continued until 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, Acadia 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. 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 Morain were prominent in social, cultural, religious and political affairs in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Morain were Andrew Morin settled in Philadelphia in 1847; Daniell Morin settled in Pennsylvania in 1685; James Morin, aged 22; settled in New York City in 1822; John Morin settled in Philadelphia in 1851.



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


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