Show ContentsPereaut History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The history of the Pereaut name began during the Middle Ages in a region known as Brittany. The French name is derived from the popular French personal name Pierre, which comes from the ancient name Petros, or Peter, meaning "rock".

Early Origins of the Pereaut family

The surname Pereaut was first found in Brittany where they held a family seat in the seigneurie of Launay and Vieux Launay.

They also branched to the regions of Neufchatel, île-de-France, at Chazelle and Courcelles, the Franch Comte at Viseney, Paris (Ablancourt) and Geneva. They were elected to the noblesse as Barons of the Empire. The Pieroway variant is an interesting one. Some sources believe the name to be a Channel Islands variant and a branch of the family settled on Sandy Point, Newfoundland. Today the family can be found in Stephenville, St. Georges and in the Corner Brook area of Newfoundland. 1 Ada Pieroway of St. Georges, married Ronald MacDonald of Antigonish who won the second Boston Marathon in 1898 and Stella Pieroway, a teacher at St. Geroges, married James Ronald MacDonnell, Newfoundland politician who represented St. Georges in the Newfoundland House of Assembly from 1919 to 1923.

Jacques Perrault and his wife Marguerite (née Cache) of Saint-Jacques, Bourgogne, had two sons, François and Jacques. François, a merchant, and Jacques, a surgeon, travelled together to New France in the early 1700's. François married Suzanne Page, daughter of Guillaume and Elisabeth (née Letartre), in Quebec on 26th November 1715. Jacques married Marie-Elisabeth Navers, daughter of Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Françoise (née Sauvin), in Château-Richer on 10th January 1724. 2

Early History of the Pereaut family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Pereaut research. Another 24 words (2 lines of text) covering the years 1608, 1611, 1613, 1628, 1644, 1661, 1670, 1680, 1684, 1687, 1688, 1691, 1703 and 1717 are included under the topic Early Pereaut History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Pereaut 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 Pereaut, including Perot, Perrot, Perrotte, Perreault, Perault, Perrault, de Perrot, De Perrot, De Perot, De Perault, De Perrault, Perrott, Perrau, Perraut, Perroud, Peroud, Perraud, Perrauld, Perauld, Peraud, Perroux, Peroux and many more.

Early Notables of the Pereaut family

Notable amongst this name at this time was Nicolas Perrot (1644-1717), French explorer, diplomat, and fur trader, one of the first white men in the Upper Mississippi Valley; François-Marie Perrot (1644-1691), French Governor of Montreal by a royal commission in 1670, and later Governor of Acadia (1684-1687); Nicolas Perot (ca. 1611-1661), French Jansenist and historian; and his brothers, Claude Perrault (1613-1688), French architect...
Another 62 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Pereaut Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Pereaut family

France was active as a cultural leader in the early 16th century. One particular area in which they lead was the exploration of the New World. The explorers, like Jacques Cartier in 1534, led the way to North America. Champlain, in 1608, made the first of twenty voyages to France to attract settlers and brought the first migrant in 1617. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec, and 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 Pereaut 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 Pereaut were Pierre Perrault who arrived in Quebec from Angoumois on the west coast of France in 1730; Nicolas(1660) and Pierre(1763) arrived in Quebec from Bourgogne.



  1. Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland Montreal: McGill's-Queen's University Press 1998. Print. (ISBN 0-7735-1782-0)
  2. Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print


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