Show ContentsGascon History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The medieval era saw many new names come to France. Gascon appeared at that time in the region called Gascogne. It was a name for someone who lived in the French province of Gascoigne or Gascony.

Early Origins of the Gascon family

The surname Gascon was first found in Gascony (French: Gascogne), an area of southwest France bordering Spain, that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution, where they held a family seat in the seigneurie of Garidech, and were a prestigious aristocratic family of south-west France who also held estates in neighboring Languedoc to the east.

Early History of the Gascon family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gascon research. Another 93 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1350, 1381, 1403, 1419, 1458, 1507, 1514, 1516, 1525, 1535, 1577, 1579, 1593, 1596, 1614, 1661, 1686, 1687 and 1716 are included under the topic Early Gascon History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gascon Spelling Variations

The many different spellings of French surnames can be partially explained by the use of local dialects and by the influence of other languages during the early development of the French language. As a result of these linguistic and cultural influences, the name Gascon is distinguished by a number of regional variations. The many spelling variations of the name include Gascoing, Gascoign, Gascoigne, Gascon, Gascoin, Gascogne, Gasco, Gascouin, Gasciogne, Gascoyne, La Gascogne, Lagascogne, La Gascoigne, Lagascoigne, Cascoigne and many more.

Early Notables of the Gascon family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Sir William Gascoigne (1350?-1419), English judge, eldest son of William Gascoigne, by Agnes, daughter of Nicholas Frank, was born at Gawthorpe, Yorkshire.John Gascoigne (fl. 1381), was an English doctor of canon law at Oxford, was possibly the 'Jo. Gascoigne, cler.' who is named in a seventeenth-century pedigree (Thoresby, Duc. Leod. p. 177) as brother to Sir William Gascoigne [q. v.], the Chief Justice, and to Richard Gascoigne of Hunslet, who is said to have been father of Thomas [q. v.]Thomas Gascoigne (1403-1458), was an English theologian, son and heir of Richard Gascoigne and...
Another 279 words (20 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gascon Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gascon World Ranking

In the United States, the name Gascon is the 15,508th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. [1] However, in Quebec, Canada, the name Gascon is ranked the 807th most popular surname. [2] And in France, the name Gascon is the 4,471st popular surname with an estimated 1,500 - 2,000 people with that name. [3]


United States Gascon migration to the United States +

France finally gave land incentives for 2,000 migrants during the 1700s. 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, the Acadians 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 Gascon were prominent in social, cultural, religious and political affairs in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Gascon were

Gascon Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Vesar Gascon, who landed in America in 1815 [4]
  • Bernaldino Gascon, who landed in Peru in 1836 [4]
  • Juan Gascon, who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1858 [4]

Canada Gascon migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Gascon Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century
  • Pierre Gascon, who settled in Quebec in 1699 from the Franche-Comté

Contemporary Notables of the name Gascon (post 1700) +

  • George Gascón (1954-2011), American politician, District Attorney of San Francisco (2011-)
  • José Luis Martín C. Gascón (1964-2021), also known as Chito Gascon, a Filipino lawyer, civil organizer, and human-rights activist, Chair of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines serving a term from 2015-2021
  • Gabriel Gascon (1927-2018), Canadian stage and film actor from Montreal, known for Possible Worlds (2000), Mars et Avril (2012) and Les belles histoires des pays d'en haut (1956)
  • Elvira Gascón Vera (1911-2000), Spanish painter and engraver
  • Miguel Sebastián Gascón (b. 1957), Spanish politician and economist, former Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism
  • Jean Gascon CC (1920-1988), Canadian opera director, actor, and administrator from Montreal
  • José Ángel Gascón Martín (b. 1985), Spanish football midfielder


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. "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
  3. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
  4. 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)


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