Show ContentsBonne History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Bonne is part of the ancient legacy of the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. Bonne was a name used for a person who was of good character. It originally derived from the Old French as le bon which was used as a term of endearment. The surname was adopted in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. [1]

Early Origins of the Bonne family

The surname Bonne was first found in Oxfordshire, where Edward le Bon was recorded in the Curia Regis Rolls for 1204. In Wiltshire, the first record there was that of Rocelin le Bun who appeared in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1255. Walter le Bone was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1296 and Thomas Bonne was found in Herefordshire in 1379. [2]

Walter Buns was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 in Oxfordshire. The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 included Rogerus Bonne; and Johannes Bunne. [3]

Early History of the Bonne family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bonne research. Another 229 words (16 lines of text) covering the years 1204, 1255, 1296, 1379, 1500, 1618, 1788, 1796, 1823, 1826, 1830, 1833, 1840 and 1860 are included under the topic Early Bonne History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bonne Spelling Variations

Until the dictionary, an invention of only the last few hundred years, the English language lacked any comprehensive system of spelling rules. Consequently, spelling variations in names are frequently found in early Anglo-Saxon and later Anglo-Norman documents. One person's name was often spelled several different ways over a lifetime. The recorded variations of Bonne include Bunn, Bun, Bon, Bonn, Bone, Bonne, Bunne and others.

Early Notables of the Bonne family

Notables of the family at this time include Alfred Bunn (1796-1860), a prominent theatrical figure who served as joint manager of the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres in London in the 1830s. Elliston gave him his first appointment as stage-manager of Drury Lane in 1823, when he was quite a young man; and he first obtained a certain celebrity as a manager by endeavouring some dozen years afterwards to establish an English Opera. In 1826 he was manager of the Birmingham Theatre, and in 1833 held the same post at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. For most of these operas...
Another 101 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bonne Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bonne Ranking

In France, the name Bonne is the 3,066th most popular surname with an estimated 2,000 - 2,500 people with that name. [4]


United States Bonne migration to the United States +

Thousands of English families boarded ships sailing to the New World in the hope of escaping the unrest found in England at this time. Although the search for opportunity and freedom from persecution abroad took the lives of many because of the cramped conditions and unsanitary nature of the vessels, the opportunity perceived in the growing colonies of North America beckoned. Many of the settlers who survived the journey went on to make important contributions to the transplanted cultures of their adopted countries. The Bonne were among these contributors, for they have been located in early North American records:

Bonne Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Eliz Bonne, who arrived in Virginia in 1635 [5]
  • Peter Bonne, who landed in Maryland in 1663 [5]
Bonne Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Adolph Bonne, who landed in America in 1780 [5]
  • Heinrich Bonne, who arrived in America in 1780 [5]
  • Mr. Bonne, who arrived in America in 1783 [5]
Bonne Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Theodore Bonne, aged 38, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1836 [5]

Contemporary Notables of the name Bonne (post 1700) +

  • Shirley Bonne (b. 1934), American Actress
  • Michel Bonne, Cinematographer

Empress of Ireland
  • Mr. Jacobus Bonne (d. 1914), American Third Class Passenger from Moline, Illinois, United States who was traveling aboard the Empress of Ireland and died in the sinking [6]


  1. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  2. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  3. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  4. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
  5. 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)
  6. Commemoration Empress of Ireland 2014. (Retrieved 2014, June 16) . Retrieved from http://www.empress2014.ca/seclangen/listepsc1.html


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