Show ContentsArnould History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The French surname Arnould first arose during the Medieval period in the Languedoc region. It is derived from the family having lived in Arnaud, a village and seigneury in Languedoc, in the south of France. Habitation surnames are names derived from already existing place-names.

Early Origins of the Arnould family

The surname Arnould was first found in Languedoc where they held a family seat in the village and seigneur of Arnaud in the department of Haute Garonne, canton of St.Martory, arrondisement of Saint-Guadens.

Early History of the Arnould family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Arnould research. Another 150 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1560, 1572, 1589, 1591, 1593, 1597, 1612, 1616, 1618, 1619, 1650, 1661, 1671, 1674, 1682, 1692, 1694, 1698, 1699, 1744, 1757 and 1778 are included under the topic Early Arnould History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Arnould 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, Arnould some of which are Ardnaud, D'Arnaud, Denaurd, Darnaud, Danaud, Arnauld, Darnauld, D'Arnauld, d'Arnaud, d'Arnaud, Saint-Arnaud, St-Arnaud, Arnault, Darnault, D'Arnault, Arnaude, Arnoult, Darnoult, D'Arnoult, Arnoux, Darnoux, D'Arnoux, Arnould, Arneault, D'Arnould, Darnould, Darnaude, Arnaux, Arnau, D'Arnau, Darnau, Darnaux and many more.

Early Notables of the Arnould family

Notable amongst the family name at this time was Henri Arnauld (1597-1692), a French Catholic bishop, he was offered the Bishopric of Périgueux, but accepted the see of Angers (1650); Robert Arnauld d’Andilly (1589-1674), a French conseiller d’État, specialising in financial questions, in the...
Another 43 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Arnould Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Arnould Ranking

In France, the name Arnould is the 437th most popular surname with an estimated 9,883 people with that name. 1

Migration of the Arnould family

In 1643, 109 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 people in Quebec, in 1663 there were only 500, 2,000 migrants arrived during the next decade. Early marriage was desperately encouraged amongst the immigrants. 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. Migration from France to New France or Quebec as it was now more popularly called, continued from France until it fell in 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 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported to Louisiana. Meanwhile, in Quebec, the French race flourished, founding in Lower Canada, one of the two great solitudes which became Canada. Many distinguished contributions have been made by members of this family name Arnould. It has been prominent in the arts, religion, politics and culture in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Arnould were Andre Arnaud settled in New York State in 1683; Isaac Arnaud and his wife settled in Virginia in 1700; J.D. and L.Arnaud settled in New Orleans in 1823.


Contemporary Notables of the name Arnould (post 1700) +

  • Pierre Arnould Meyer, French Divisional General during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1789 to 1815 2


  1. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
  2. Generals Who Served in the French Army during the Period 1789-1815. (Retrieved 2015, April 29) Pierre Meyer. Retrieved from http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/c_frenchgenerals.html


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