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Boyer History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables World Ranking

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Suggested Reading Citations

Boyer History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
France

Of all the French names to come from the Languedoc of France, Boyer is one of the most ancient. The name is a result of the original family having lived in Languedoc, where the family was found since the early Middle Ages.

Early Origins of the Boyer family

The surname Boyer was first found in Languedoc, where the family has held a family seat since ancient times.

By the 1500's the family was well established in the region of Languedoc where several members of this prestigious family distinguished themselves through their contribution to the community in which they lived. The family, as a noble family of France, confirmed with letters of patent and heraldic cap, contributed largely to the political as well as the cultural scene of the region.

Raymond de Boyer, Lord of Lacoste and of Mailhac, had his name mentioned in 1538. In recognition of his outstanding services on the battlefield, Jehan de Boyer-Mailhac was promoted to the rank of Captain.

Another noble member of the family, François de Boyer-Mailhac, Lord of Lacoste and of Mailhac rose to the rank of Captain the army and received letters of congratulations from Louis XIII regarding his excellent services. François de Boyer-Castanet, Marquis de Tauriac, Lord of Beauvais and de La Roque, was created Baron of Roquemaure and became Lieutenant of the King of the province of Rouergue, by letters of patent of March 27, 1721. In appreciation of his contribution he was made Knight of Saint-Louis. Through the years many members of the different branches were granted titles of nobility and among them was Louis-Joseph-Eugène de Boyer-Castanet, Marquis de Tauriac, Viscount of Monclar, Lord of Castanet, Knight of Saint-Louis and Lieutenant of the King of the province of Rouergue by letters of patent of October 16, 1753.

In the 19th century, following the same tradition as their ancestors, members of this family were actively involved in the current affairs of their region and many of them received grants of lands, titles and letters of patent confirming their nobility and that of their descendants. One of them, Eugène Anne Adolphe de Boyer-Castanet, Marquis de Tauriac, was elected deputy of the Legislative Assembly, member of the "Académie des Jeux Floraux" and created Knight of the Legion of Honour. To this day, the province of Languedoc is proud to have been the ancestral seat of such a family.

Anicet Boyer, born in 1649, son of Guillaume and Marguerite (née Baillot), travelled to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Françoise Martin at Pointe-aux-Trembles on 26th February 1680. He married for the second time on 27th November 1684 to Marie Varin. They settled together in Quebec until his death on 25th April 1724. 1

Early History of the Boyer family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Boyer research. Another 71 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1618, 1667, 1689, 1692, 1694, 1698, 1702, 1703, 1711, 1713, 1729, 1772, 1792, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1801, 1802, 1806, 1807, 1809, 1832, 1851 and 1870 are included under the topic Early Boyer History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Boyer 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 Boyer, including Boyer, Boyet, Boyay, Boyey, Boyé, Boyais, Boier, Boiaie, Boyaie, Boiay, Boiais, de Boyer, de Boyet, de Boyay, de Boyey, de Boyé, du Boyer, Du Boyer, du Boyet, du Boyay and many more.

Early Notables of the Boyer family

Notable amongst the family name at this time was

François de Boyer-Castanet, Marquis de Tauriac, Lord of Beauvais; and Claude Boyer (1618-1698), a French clergyman, playwright, apologist and poet
Abel Boyer (1667-1729), was a miscellaneous writer, born on 24 June 1667, at Castres, in Upper Languedoc, where his father, who suffered for his Protestant beliefs. He left France with an uncle, a not...

Boyer World Ranking

In the United States, the name Boyer is the 671^st most popular surname with an estimated 44,766 people with that name. 2 However, in Canada, the name Boyer is ranked the 463^rd most popular surname with an estimated 10,319 people with that name. 3 And in Quebec, Canada, the name Boyer is the 295^th popular surname. 4 France ranks Boyer as 55^th with 39,907 people. 5

Boyer migration to the United States +

Approximately 110 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 people in Quebec. France gave land incentives for 2,000 migrants during the next decade. 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. Migration to New France (Quebec) continued from France until it fell in 1759. In the year 1675 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 Boyer 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 Boyer were

Boyer Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Thomas Boyer, who arrived in Virginia in 1628 6
Tho Boyer, who landed in Virginia in 1635 6
William Boyer, who landed in Virginia in 1636 6
Alex Boyer, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1648 6
Stephen Boyer, who arrived in Virginia in 1652 6
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Boyer Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Samuel Boyer, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1710 6
Marc Boyer, who landed in Louisiana in 1718-1724 6
Marie Boyer, who arrived in Louisiana in 1719 6
Jean Boyer, aged 25, who arrived in Louisiana in 1720 6
James Boyer, who arrived in New England in 1723 6
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Boyer Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

G F Boyer, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1802 6
Joseph Boyer, who landed in New York in 1822 6
Peter Boyer, who landed in Maryland in 1841 6
Peter C Boyer, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1850 6
J B Boyer, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1850 6
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Boyer migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Boyer Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

Marguerite Maclin Boyer, who landed in Montreal in 1659
Louise Therese Boyer, who landed in Montreal in 1659
Charles Boyer, son of Pierre and Denise, who married Marguerite Tenard, daughter of Barthélemy and Jeanne, in Montreal, Quebec on 23rd November 1666 7
Nicolas Boyer, who arrived in Montreal in 1667
Nicolas Boyer, son of Etienne and Périnne, who married Marguerite Maclin, daughter of Jean and Suzanne, in Montreal, Quebec on 18th August 1667 7
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Boyer Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Antoine Boyer, son of Nicolas and Marguerite, who married Louise Payet, daughter of Pierre and Louise, in Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec on 2nd June 1704 7
Jean Boyer, son of Pierre and Jeanne, who married Jeanne Deguire, daughter of François and Marie-Rose, in Montreal, Quebec on 23rd September 1708 7
Jean-Baptiste Boyer, son of Etienne and Marie-Thérèse, who married Madeleine Bonnier, daughter of Jacques and Geneviève-Thérèse, in Quebec on 28th July 1710 7
Zacharie Boyer, son of Nicolas and Marguerite, who married Marie-Françoise Mezeret, daughter of Jean and Madeleine, in Montreal, Quebec on 26th November 1711 7
Antoine Boyer, son of Antoine and Louise, who married Catherine Gladus, daughter of Jean and Marie, in Montreal, Quebec on 1st December 1715 7
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Boyer migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Boyer Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Miss Elizabeth Boyer, English convict who was convicted in Middlesex, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Buffalo" on 4th May 1833, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 8
Mr. Francis Boyer, (b. 1812), aged 22, English butcher who was convicted in South Kesteven, (Kesteven), Lincolnshire, England for life for stealing, transported aboard the "Bengal Merchant" on 27th September 1834, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 9
Mr. Thomas Boyer, (b. 1803), aged 41, English labourer who was convicted in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England for 12 years for stealing, transported aboard the "Barossa" on 9th May 1844, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), he died in 1865 10

Contemporary Notables of the name Boyer (post 1700) +

Paul Delos Boyer (1918-2018), American molecular biologist and educator, co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Cloyd Victor Boyer Jr. (1927-2021), American right-handed pitcher and pitching coach in Major League Baseball who played between 1949 and 1955 for the St. Louis Cardinals (1949–52) and Kansas City Athletics (1955)
Charles Scott Boyer II (1947-2018), American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Chenango, New York, co-founder of the band Cowboy
Charles Boyer (1899-1978), four-time Academy Award-nominated French born actor
Herbert Wayne Boyer (b. 1936), American recipient of the 1990 National Medal of Science, and co-recipient of the 1996 Lemelson-MIT Prize and a co-founder of Genentech
Charles A. Boyer (1911-1991), American Republican politician, Member of Michigan State House of Representatives from Wexford District, 1955-62 11
Carl III Boyer (b. 1937), American Republican politician, Mayor of Santa Clarita, California, 1990, 1996 11
Calvin S. Boyer, American politician, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1929-30 11
C. W. Boyer, American Democratic Party politician, Postmaster at Martinsburg, West Virginia, 1894-98; Delegate to Democratic National Convention from West Virginia, 1904 11
Bob Boyer, American Democratic Party politician, Member of Michigan Democratic State Central Committee, 1957 11
... (Another 42 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Boyer family +

Pan Am Flight 103 (Lockerbie)

Francis Boyer (1945-1988), French Passenger from Toulosane, France, who flew aboard the Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit, known as the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 and died 12

Citations +

Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
"Surnames Meanings, Origins & Distribution Maps - Forebears." Forebears, https://forebears.io/surnames
"The first 1,000 family names by rank, Quebec (in French only)" Institut de la statistique du Quebec, https://statistique.quebec.ca/en/document/family-names-in-quebec/tableau/the-first-1000-family-names-by-rank-quebec
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.
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 3rd November 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/buffalo
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 7th October 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/bengal-merchant
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 24th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/barossa
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 16) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
Pan Am Flight 103's victims: A list of those killed 25 years ago | syracuse.com. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/pan_am_flight_103s_victims_a_list_of_those_killed_25_years_ago.html