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Merchant History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

United States Canada Australia New Zealand West Indies

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Suggested Reading Citations

Merchant History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Scotland

The origins the old family name Merchant 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 Merchant family, adopted the name of their occupation as their surname. The surname Merchant was an occupational name for a merchant or trader.

Early Origins of the Merchant family

The surname Merchant 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 Merchant family

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

Merchant Spelling Variations

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

Early Notables of the Merchant 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 Merchant Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Merchant Ranking

In the United States, the name Merchant is the 2,147^th most popular surname with an estimated 14,922 people with that name. 2

Merchant migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Merchant Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Jeffrey Merchant, who settled in Virginia in 1637
Jeffry Merchant, who arrived in Virginia in 1637
Jeffery Merchant, who landed in Virginia in 1637 3
John Merchant, who arrived in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1638 3
William Merchant, who arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1641 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Merchant Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Richard Merchant, who landed in Virginia in 1706 3
Maria Katherina Merchant, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1731 3

Merchant Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Henry Merchant, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1840 3
Francis Hyatt Merchant, who arrived in Texas in 1850-1906 3

Merchant migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Merchant Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Mr. Jesse Merchant U.E. who settled in New Brunswick c. 1784 4

Merchant migration to Australia +

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

Merchant Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. William Merchant, English convict who was convicted in Bristol, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Burrell" on 22nd July 1830, arriving in New South Wales 5
Mr. John Merchant, English convict who was convicted in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Barossa" on 9th May 1844, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 6
James Merchant, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Samuel Boddington" in 1851 7

Merchant 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:

Merchant Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Elijah Merchant, aged 25, a labourer, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Chile" in 1874
Martha Merchant, aged 26, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Chile" in 1874
Frederick Merchant, aged 1, who arrived in Nelson, New Zealand aboard the ship "Chile" in 1874

Merchant 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. 8

Merchant Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

George and Emmanuel Merchant, who settled in Barbados in 1685

Contemporary Notables of the name Merchant (post 1700) +

Livingston Tallmadge Merchant (1903-1976), American diplomat, who twice served as United States Ambassador to Canada
Natalie Merchant (b. 1963), American singer and songwriter
Ray Merchant, American Republican politician, Candidate for Oklahoma State House of Representatives 65th District, 2002 9
Pamela K. Merchant, American Democratic Party politician, Candidate for South Dakota State Senate 7th District, 2010 9
Monisha M. Merchant, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Colorado, 2008 9
Mona H. Merchant, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Colorado, 2008 9
Milton F. Merchant, American politician, Representative from New York 26th District, 1882 9
Livingston Tallmadge Merchant (1903-1976), American politician, U.S. Ambassador to Canada, 1956-58, 1961-62 9
Joseph W. Merchant, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from New York, 1868; Member of New York State Assembly from Madison County 1st District, 1870 9
Harriet Merchant, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1996 9
... (Another 11 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

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/
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)
Rubincam, Milton. The Old United Empire Loyalists List. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1976. (Originally published as; United Empire Loyalists. The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada. Rose Publishing Company, 1885.) ISBN 0-8063-0331-X
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 5th November 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/burrell
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 24th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/barossa
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) SAMUEL BODDINGTON 1851. Retrieved http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1851SamuelBoddington.gif
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 9) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html