Blanc History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Germany
Italy

From the historical and fascinating Italian region of Venice emerged a multitude of noble families, including the distinguished Blanc family. Although people were originally known only by a single name, it became necessary for people to adapt a second name to identify themselves as populations grew and travel became more frequent. The process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames was not complete until the modern era, but the use of hereditary family names in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries. Italian hereditary surnames were developed according to fairly general principles and they are characterized by a profusion of derivatives coined from given names. Although the most common type of family name found in the region of Venice is the patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, the nickname type of surname is also frequently found. Nickname surnames were derived from an eke-name, or added name. They usually reflected the physical characteristics or attributes of the first person that used the name. The surname Blanc came from a light-haired or light-complexioned person having derived from the Germanic word blank which means white.

Early Origins of the Blanc family

The surname Blanc was first found in northern Italy, in the modern territory of Emilia-Romagna. The earliest record of the Blanc family shows them in Bologna, where Martino Bianchi was a chancellor in 938 in Orvieto, one of the more prosperous cities of this time. Bianchi is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.

Early History of the Blanc family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Blanc research. Another 31 words (2 lines of text) covering the years 1350, 1447, 1460, 1510, 1581, 1590, 1604, 1612, 1656, 1657, 1662, 1679, 1729, 1752 and 1810 are included under the topic Early Blanc History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Blanc Spelling Variations

Surnames that originated in Italy are characterized by an enormous number of spelling variations. Some of these are derived from regional traditions and dialects. Northern names, for instance, often end in "o", while southern names tend to end in "i". Other variations come from the fact the medieval scribes tended to spell according to the sound of words, rather than any particular set of rules. The recorded variations of Blanc include Bianchs, Bianchis, Bianchiardi, Bianca, Biancani, Biancat, Biancato, Biancheda, Bianchedi, Bianchera, Biancheri, Bianchesi, Bianchessi, Bianchet, Bianchetti, Bianchetto, Bianchi, Bianchini, Bianchinotti, Bianciotti, Bianco, Biancoli, Biancolini, Bianconcini, Biancone, Bianconi, Biancotti, Biancotto, Biancucci, Blanc, Blanca, Blanco, DeBianchi, De Bianchi, Del Bianco, DelBianco, LaBianca, La Bianca and many more.

Early Notables of the Blanc family

Prominent among members of the family was Bianco da Siena, a religious poet and mystic born in Venice in 1350, who was also a composer of hymns; Francesco Ferrari Bianchi was born in Modena in 1460 and created dramatic religious paintings famous for their use of color; Isidoro Bianchi (1581-1662), was an Italian painter of the Baroque period; Bartolomeo Bianco (1590-1657), an Italian architect of the early Baroque; Francesco Bianchini (1662-1729), was an...
Another 73 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Blanc Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Blanc Ranking

In the United States, the name Blanc is the 8,325^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1 However, in France, the name Blanc is ranked the 35^th most popular surname with an estimated 48,108 people with that name. 2

Blanc migration to the United States +

An examination into the immigration and passenger lists has discovered a number of people bearing the name Blanc:

Blanc Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Mrs. Augustus Blanc, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1755 3
Anne Blanc, who landed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1763 3
Patrick Blanc, aged 34, who arrived in New York in 1774 3
Joseph Blanc, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1785 3

Blanc Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Silvester Blanc, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1813 3
R Blanc, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1813 3
John Baptist Blanc, who landed in America in 1822 3
John Peter Blanc, who arrived in New York in 1827 3
Eugene Blanc, who landed in New York in 1831 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Blanc migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Antoine Blanc, son of David and Jeanne, who married Marguerite Léger, daughter of Pierre and Anne-Marguerite, in Quebec on 9th August 1729 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Blanc (post 1700) +

Mel Blanc (1908-1989), American voice actor, best known as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and many others
Antoine Blanc (1792-1860), the fifth Bishop and first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans
Joseph E. Le Blanc, American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from Louisiana, 1900 5
Erika Blanc (b. 1942), Italian actress
Marcel Blanc (1935-2023), Swiss farmer and politician of the Democratic Union of the Centre (UDC)
Jean-Jacques Blanc, French Brigadier General during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1789 to 1815 6
Claude Marie-Joseph Blanc, French Brigadier General during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1789 to 1815 7
Brigadier-General Gaston Blanc (1881-1943), French Commanding Officer during World War II 8
General Jean-Clment Blanc (1897-1982), French Inspector-General of the Land Forces 9
Lieutenant-General Amde-Ferdinand-Auguste Blanc (1880-1964), French General Officer Commanding Tunisia Corps 10
... (Another 4 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
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)
Internoscia, Arthur E., and Claire Chevrier. Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français 1608-1760. Vol. 1, Institut Drouin, 1958.
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 9) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789-1815. (Retrieved 2015, February 11) Jean-Jacques Blanc. Retrieved from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/c_frenchgenerals.html
Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789-1815. (Retrieved 2015, February 11) Claude Blanc. Retrieved from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/c_frenchgenerals.html
Generals of World War II. (Retrieved 2011, October 3) Gaston Blanc. Retrieved from http://generals.dk/general/Blanc/Gaston-Samuel/France.html
Generals of World War II. (Retrieved 2011, October 3) Jean-Clment Blanc. Retrieved from http://generals.dk/general/Blanc/Jean-Cl%C3%A9ment/France.html
Generals of World War II. (Retrieved 2011, October 3) Amde-Ferdinand-Auguste Blanc. Retrieved from http://generals.dk/general/Blanc/Am%C3%A9d%C3%A9e-Ferdinand-Auguste/France.html