Trombley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Scotland
England

The French name Trombley first arose during the Medieval period in Normandy. It is derived from when the family having lived at Tremblay, in Normandy.

Early Origins of the Trombley family

The surname Trombley was first found in Normandy (French: Normandie), the former Duchy of Normandy, where the family held a family seat since early times.

Active in the conquest, they were awarded lands in England where their name became Trembles. Another branch moved to neighboring Flanders where they established themselves and gave their name to the land of Trembleur in the 1400's.

Interestingly, there are records of the family in Scotland in ancient times. "Walter de Trembley occupied the lands of Delany in the Mearns, 1263, and Robert de Tremblay witnessed a charter of lands in Fife by Sir Alexander de Moray, 1281. Robert de Tremblee who rendered homage in 1296 is probably Robert de Tremblay or Trembleye of Elgin en Moreve whose homage is recorded in the same year. " 1

By the 15th century the family again branched to Burgundy and settled in Geneva by 1620. Another branch was formed in Picardy, Bourgogne. One of the family's descendants was Abraham Trembley, who was a Swiss Naturalist during the 1700's and wrote "Mémoires pour sévir à l'histoire de polypes d'eau douce à bras en forme de cornes", in 1774.

Pierre Tremblay, son of Philibert and Jehanne (neé Coignet), was a farmer that arrived in Canada in 1647. Pierre married Ozanne-Jeanne Achon on 2nd October 1657. 2

Early History of the Trombley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Trombley research. Another 21 words (2 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1577 and 1638 are included under the topic Early Trombley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Trombley 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, Trombley some of which are Tremblay, Tremblai, Tremblaie, Tremblé, Tremblés, Tremblée, Tremblait, Tremblett, Tremblais, Tremblaies, Tremley and many more.

Early Notables of the Trombley family

Another 28 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Trombley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Trombley Ranking

In the United States, the name Trombley is the 4,813^rd most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 3

Trombley migration to the United States +

In 1643, 109 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 people in Quebec. Migration was slow. The fur trade attracted migrants, both noble and commoner. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec. By the same year the French Acadian presence in the Maritimes had reached 500. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of the two great founding nations of Canada. The family name Trombley has made many distinguished contributions in France and New France to the world of science, culture, religion, and education. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Trombley were

Trombley Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Arthur P. Trombley, aged 41, who settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1920
Margaret Trombley, aged 41, who settled in New York in 1920

Contemporary Notables of the name Trombley (post 1700) +

Laura E. Skandera Trombley, American fifth and current president of Pitzer College, Claremont, California
Ira Trombley (1952-2009), Vermont legislator and politician
Stephen Trombley (b. 1954), American author and filmmaker
Meeran Trombley (b. 1987), American retired competitive pair skater
Michael Scott "Mike" Trombley (b. 1967), retired American Major League Baseball player
Rosalie Trombley (1939-2021), Canadian music director of AM Top 40 radio station CKLW, also known as "The Big 8", one of the few female music directors in AM top 40

Citations +

Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
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/