Contents [hide]

Marchant History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

United States Canada Australia New Zealand West Indies

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Citations

Marchant History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Scotland

The origins the old family name Marchant can be found within medieval France. While the patronymic and metronymic surnames, which are derived from the name of the father and mother respectively, are the most common form of a hereditary surname in France, occupational surnames also emerged during the late Middle Ages. Many people, such as the Marchant family, adopted the name of their occupation as their surname. The surname Marchant was an occupational name for a merchant or trader.

Early Origins of the Marchant family

The surname Marchant was first found in Dauphiny (French: Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois), a former province in southeastern France, where the family has held a family seat since ancient times.

This important family is first recorded in 1287 when Lantelme is mentioned at Die and Ruinel. In 1470, Audry received his Bachelor of Law degree and his descendant, Laurent, was granted noble status by Charles VII. Many members of this celebrated family achieved high ranking through their political contributions. The Marchant family of Savoie had many important members, such as the Judge of Génevois in 1600 and the Chief Auditor at the Audit Office in 1634.

Over the course of several centuries, this ancient family expanded and prospered to a variety of regions where members of the family became prominent citizens in their respective communities, such as in Lower Limousin, where Henry Marchant was a lawyer in Parliament and the Lieutenant of the Larche jurisdiction in 1768 and Pierre Marchant was a lawyer in Parliament and a Judge of Larche. With the diverse locations, however, the spelling of the family name varied with the cultural and linguistic changes in each region.

Jacques Marchand, born in 1636, travelled from France to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Françoise Capel, born in 1628, at Trois-Rivières on 1st February 1660. They remained together at Trois-Rivières until Jacques died on 6th October 1695. François passed away on 20th April 1699. 1

Early History of the Marchant family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Marchant research. The years 1600 and 1722 are included under the topic Early Marchant History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Marchant Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Marchand, Marchond, Marchonde, Marchont, Marchent, Marchamp, Marchant, Merchamp and many more.

Early Notables of the Marchant family

Notable amongst the family at this time was the Honourable Mamert, Chief Auditor in 1600; and Jean Baptiste Louis DeCourtel Marchand (died 1722) was a French soldier who was commanding...
Another 30 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Marchant Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Marchant Ranking

In the United States, the name Marchant is the 5,950^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 2 However, in France, the name Marchant is ranked the 6,561^st most popular surname with an estimated 1,000 - 1,500 people with that name. 3

Marchant migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Marchant Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Walter Marchant, who settled in Maine in 1620
William Marchant, who settled in Virginia in 1654
William Marchant, who arrived in Virginia in 1663 4
Thomazin Marchant, who landed in Maryland in 1680 4

Marchant Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Saridene Marchant, aged 32, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1840 4
F Marchant, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1850 4

Marchant migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Marchant Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

Jacques Marchant, aged 18, who landed in Quebec in 1656
Mr. Jacques Marchant, French labourer travelling to Canada to work for François Peron, arriving on 11th April 1656 5
Mr. Thomas Marchant, French settler travelling to Canada to work for Pierre Gaigneur, arriving on 30th April 1658 5
Thomas Marchant, who arrived in Canada in 1658

Marchant Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Richard Marchant, aged 18, who arrived in Montreal in 1841
George Marchant, aged 18, who arrived in Montreal in 1849

Marchant migration to Australia +

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

Marchant Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

George Marchant, English convict from Kent, who was transported aboard the "Almorah" on April 1817, settling in New South Wales, Australia 6
Mr. Charles Marchant, (b. 1817), aged 21, English convict who was convicted in Bath, Somerset, England for 15 years for breaking and entering, transported aboard the "Earl Grey" on 27th July 1838, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 7
William Larington Marchant, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Fairlee" in 1840 8
Eliza Marchant, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Fairlee" in 1840 8
Robert Marchant, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "John" in 1840 9
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Marchant migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Marchant Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Joseph Kettle Marchant, aged 22, a gardener, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Bombay" in 1842 10
Ann Emily Marchant, aged 22, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Bombay" in 1842 10
Thomas Marchant, aged 44, a farmer, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Prince of Wales" in 1842
H. Marchant, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Asterope" in 1865
Miss Phillis Marchant, (b. 1848), aged 19, British domestic servant travelling from London aboard the ship "Glenmark" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 14th November 1867 11
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Marchant migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 12

Marchant Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Thomas Marchant, who settled in Jamaica in 1684
Emanuell Marchant, who settled in Barbados in 1685

Contemporary Notables of the name Marchant (post 1700) +

Todd Marchant (b. 1973), American NHL ice hockey player
Kenny Ewell Marchant (b. 1951), American politician, Republican member of US House of Representatives
Henry Marchant (1741-1796), American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress (1777 to 1779)
Kenny E. Marchant (b. 1951), American Republican politician, Mayor of Carrollton, Texas, 1984-87; Member of Texas State House of Representatives 99th District, 1987-2004; U.S. Representative from Texas 24th District, 2005- 13
Joel Marchant, American politician, Member of Connecticut State House of Representatives from Redding, 1826 13
Henry Marchant (1741-1796), American politician, U.S. District Judge for Rhode Island, 1790-96 13
Eston Marchant, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from South Carolina, 1964 13
Cornelius B. Marchant, American politician, U.S. Collector of Customs, 1870-81 13
Charles H. Marchant, American politician, U.S. Collector of Customs, 1909 13
Bert Marchant, American politician, Mayor of Storm Lake, Iowa; Elected 1937 13
... (Another 16 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Marchant family +

HMS Prince of Wales

Mr. Eric Harry Marchant, British Commander Electrical, who sailed into battle on the HMS Prince of Wales (1941) and died in the sinking 14

HMS Royal Oak

Vincent Marchant, British Seaman with the Royal Navy aboard the HMS Royal Oak (1939) when she was torpedoed by U-47 and sunk; he survived the sinking 15

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/
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)
Debien, Gabriel. Liste Des Engagés Pour Le Canada Au XVIIe Siècle. Vol. 6, Laval University, 1952. (Retreived 24th May 2018). Retrieved from https://lebloguedeguyperron.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/130-liste-des-contrats-dengagement-pour-la-nouvelle-france-releves-a-la-rochelle-entre-1634-et-1679/
State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2016, October 27) Almorah voyage to New South Wales, Australia in 1817 with 180 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/almorah/1817
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 17th August 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/earl-grey
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) FAIRLIE/FAIRLEE 1840. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1840Fairlie.htm
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) JOHN from London 1840. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1840John.htm
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 7th November 2010). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 17th October 2018). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 22) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
HMS Prince of Wales Crew members. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listprincecrew.html
Ships hit by U-boats crew list HMS Royal Oak (08) - (Retrieved 2018 February, 9th) - retrieved from https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship68.html