Bourges History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France

The name Bourges has been included within French history since the early portion of the Middle Ages. This Languedoc name is derived from a maker of wooden bowls and dishes which is derived from the Old French word "bolle", which means "bowl".

Early Origins of the Bourges family

The surname Bourges was first found in Languedoc, where the family held a family seat since ancient times.

The family is said to have had members who were respected in their community and among them was Jean-François-Pascal-Henri who was named Knight of Malta as a reward for his courageous conduct during the Crusades and also became Lieutenant in the regiment of Aunis. Other members were known to have participated actively in the events of their times and were granted titles as was Armand-Ferdinand-Bernard-Michel du Bourg, Knight of Malta, Deputy of Haute-Garonne and Knight of the Legion of Honour in the 18th century.

The Bourg family was considered as an honorable and esteemed family and to this day several French provinces are proud to have been the ancestral home for such a family.

Early History of the Bourges family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bourges research. Another 250 words (18 lines of text) covering the years 1276, 1300, 1535, 1560, 1669, 1671, 1678, 1691, 1710, 1742 and 1760 are included under the topic Early Bourges History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bourges Spelling Variations

Most surnames have experienced slight spelling changes. A son may not chose to spell his name the same way that his father did. Many were errors, many deliberate. During the early development of the French language, a person usually gave his version, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. Prefixes or suffixes varied. They were optional as they passed through the centuries, or were adopted by different branches to signify either a political or religious adherence. Hence, there a many spelling variations of the name Bourges, including Bourg, Bourge, Bourgue, Bourges, Bourgues, Bourgg, Burg, Burge, Burgue, Burges, Burgues, Borg, Borge, Borgue, Borgues, de Bourg, de Bourge, de Bourgue, de la Bourg, de la Bourgue, de la Bourge, De Bourg, du Bourg, Bourgeat, Bourgeix, Bourgeault and many more.

Early Notables of the Bourges family

Notable amongst the family name at this time was

Clementine de Bourges was an eminent composer of the 16th century. Her husband was killed fighting against the Huguenots in 1560, and she died of grief Sept. 30 in the following year. Her compositions...

Bourges Ranking

In France, the name Bourges is the 1,149^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,791 people with that name. 1

Bourges migration to the United States +

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 the treaty of Utrecht, the Acadians were ceded by France to Britain in 1713. In 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported. They found refuge in Louisiana. In 1793, the remaining French in these provinces came under British rule. Meanwhile, in Quebec, the French race flourished, founding in Lower Canada, one of the two great solitudes which became Canada. Many of this distinguished family name Bourges were prominent in social, cultural, religious and political affairs in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Bourges were

Bourges Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Joseph F Bourges, who landed in Mississippi in 1881 2

Citations +

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)