Show ContentsPortell History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Noble surnames, such as Portell, evoke images of the ancient homeland of the French people. The original bearer of the name Portell, which is a local surname, once lived, held land, or was born in the beautiful region of France. In France, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and during the late Middle Ages, names that were derived from localities became increasingly widespread. Local names originally denoted the proprietorship of the village or estate. The Portell family originally lived near a door or gate of particular interest, such as the gates to a fortified city or a unusually large or unique door. The name Portell is derived from the Old French words "la" and "porte," which mean "the" and "door" respectively.

Early Origins of the Portell family

The surname Portell was first found in Berry, a former province until 1790 when it became a region in central France where this distinguished family held a family seat in d'Ysserteux, and were members of the aristocratic families of the region. In the same region of Berry they also branched to Riants.

The family moved north into Brittany at Kerduault, and to L'Estang and to Cree'Hanton in Brittany. They became the Barons de Vezins in that region. At Crozon in Brittany they became elevated to the nobility as the Comtes de Crozon. They also branched to Dauphiné to the south east, to Anjou (Vellade), to Perigord (Lubignac), and Theil in Poitou. They also branched south to Guyenne. The Marquis de la Porte eventually became the Comtes d'Hust and held a family seat in the west of France at Saintonge, Angoumois and Perigord.

Jacques Laporte, born in 1621, travelled from Perche, France to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Nicole Duchesne, born in 1641, at Montreal in 1657. 1

Early History of the Portell family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Portell research. The years 1602, 1664, 1675, 1704, 1741, 1749, 1768, 1773, 1782 and 1818 are included under the topic Early Portell History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Portell Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Laport, Laporte, De La Porte, LaPort, LaPorte, Laporter, Laportere, Laporterie, Lapotre, Port, Porte, Porter, Portere, Porterie, Potre and many more.

Early Notables of the Portell family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Charles de La Porte (1602-1664), a French nobleman and general, Marquis and later Duke of La Meilleraye and Duke of Rethel; and Roland Laporte (1675-1704), a French Protestant (Camisard) leader, also known as Roland.Jean-Pierre Duport (1741-1818) was a French cellist, born at Paris, Nov. 27, 1741. Considered the best pupil of Berthaut. Soon achieved a great reputation in Paris, but after 10 years of success started on a lengthened tour through England and Spain, and finally in 1773, on the invitation of Frederick the Great, settled at Berlin as first cello in the...
Another 136 words (10 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Portell Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Portell family

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Pierre Laporte arrived in Quebec in 1727 from Saintonge; Jean Baptiste Laporte arrived in Quebec from Guyenne in 1720; another Jean Baptiste Laporte settled in Quebec in 1738 also from Guyenne.


Contemporary Notables of the name Portell (post 1700) +

  • Clyde F. Portell, American Democratic Party politician, Member of Missouri State House of Representatives from Ste. Genevieve County; Elected 1964 2


  1. Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
  2. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 22) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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