Marchent History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
The origins the old family name Marchent 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 Marchent family, adopted the name of their occupation as their surname. The surname Marchent was an occupational name for a merchant or trader.
Early Origins of the Marchent family
The surname Marchent 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. 
Important Dates for the Marchent family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Marchent research. More information is included under the topic Early Marchent History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Marchent Spelling Variations
Spelling variations of this family name include: Marchand, Marchond, Marchonde, Marchont, Marchent, Marchamp, Marchant, Merchamp and many more.
Early Notables of the Marchent family (pre 1700)
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 Marchent Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Marchent family
Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Charles Marchand, aged 23; settled in Louisiana in 1719; David Marchand settled in Philadelphia in 1754; Louis Marchand settled in Louisiana in 1758; Marie Marchand settled in Louisiana in 1719.
- ^ Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print