Show ContentsGrivet History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Grivet is a name of ancient French origin. It was a Breton name given to a person with gray hair. The name Grivet is derived from the Old French word "gris," which means "gray," and was often given to someone with gray hair.

Early Origins of the Grivet family

The surname Grivet was first found in Brittany where this distinguished family held a family seat at Motte, and were prominent members of the aristocracy.

Early History of the Grivet family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Grivet research. Another 83 words (6 lines of text) covering the year 1789 is included under the topic Early Grivet History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Grivet 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, Grivet some of which are Gris, Griss, Grix, LeGris, Legris, Legriss and many more.

Early Notables of the Grivet family

More information is included under the topic Early Grivet Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Grivet Ranking

In France, the name Grivet is the 6,474th most popular surname with an estimated 1,000 - 1,500 people with that name. 1

Migration of the Grivet family

French settlers came early to North American, following in the wake of the explorers, and creating New France. Quebec City, founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain is said to have been the first American site founded as a permanent settlement, rather than as just a commercial outpost. But emigration was slow, in 1643, 109 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 French people in Quebec, and by 1663, when the region was officially made The Royal Colony of New France, by Louis XIV, there still only around 500 settlers. Over 2,000 would arrive 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 immigrants, both noble and commoner from France. By 1675, there were around 7000 French in the colony, and by that 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. Despite the loss of the Colony to England, the French people flourished in Lower Canada. Among settlers to North America of the Grivet surname were Adrien Legris (1686), Jean Legris (1692 Lépine), and Denis Legris (1728) all arrived in Quebec from Ile-de-France.


Flight TWA 800
  • Mr. Cyril   Grivet (1947-1996), born in France,, from Menlo Park, San Francisco, California, USA, American senior lab technician Stanford University flying aboard flight TWA 800 from J.F.K. Airport, New York to Leonardo da Vinci Airport, Rome when the plane crashed after takeoff ; he died in the crash 2


  1. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
  2. The Washington Post Passenger List TWA Flight 800. (Retrieved 2018, February 15th). Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/twa800/list01.htm


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