- The French Canadian population descends from a surprisingly small number of immigrants, which still shapes Quebec last names.
- Some prolific ancestors had mostly female descendants, so their last names were not transmitted through the generations.
- Half of the pioneers’ names on the patronymic list are among the top 25 most common names in Quebec today.
- A last name can be linked to several pioneers, so two Desjardins do not necessarily share the same ancestor.
- Only ascending genealogy, from your parents back to your first ancestor in Quebec, reveals which pioneer you descend from.
In a previous article, we learned that the ethnic French Canadian population is descended from a surprisingly small amount of immigrants.
The influence of this small number of immigrants can still be seen in the frequency and variation of last names in Quebec to this day.
For example, here is the list of pioneers that have the most married descendants before 1800 (this list was compiled using the PRDH database):
| Name of the pioneer | Amount of descendants
married before 1800 |
| Zacharie Cloutier | 10 850 |
| Jean Guyon | 9 674 |
| Marin Boucher | 8 502 |
| Jacques Archambault | 8 445 |
| Noël Langlois | 7 847 |
| Abraham Martin | 7 765 |
| Pierre Miville | 6 552 |
| Pierre Desportes | 6 515 |
| Jean Roussin | 4 730 |
| Louis Hébert | 4 592 |
This list does not contain some of the most common names used today, and also includes some names that are rarely seen nowadays. This is because while some of these ancestors had a lot of descendants, most of these descendants were female. Thus, their last names were not transmitted through the generations. We have compiled a second list limited to patronymic descendants of these pioneers, which in other words refers to descendants through the male side:
| Name of the pioneer | Number of
“patronymic” descendants married before 1800 |
| Jean Côté | 567 |
| Pierre Tremblay | 564 |
| Marin Boucher | 482 |
| Jean Dumais | 481 |
| Louis Houde | 471 |
| Jean Guyon | 449 |
| Jacques Archambault | 423 |
| Pierre Parent | 418 |
| Zacharie Cloutier | 391 |
| Guillaume Pelletier | 389 |
Let’s now compare this list with the most common last names used in Quebec in 2006:
| Rank | Last name | Percentage |
| 1 | Tremblay | 1,076 |
| 2 | Gagnon | 0,790 |
| 3 | Roy | 0,753 |
| 4 | Côté | 0,692 |
| 5 | Bouchard | 0,530 |
| 6 | Gauthier | 0,522 |
| 7 | Morin | 0,498 |
| 8 | Lavoie | 0,459 |
| 9 | Fortin | 0,449 |
| 10 | Gagné | 0,448 |
| 11 | Ouellet | 0,447 |
| 12 | Pelletier | 0,435 |
| 13 | Bélanger | 0,429 |
| 14 | Lévesque | 0,412 |
| 15 | Bergeron | 0,399 |
| 16 | Leblanc | 0,367 |
| 17 | Paquette | 0,361 |
| 18 | Girard | 0,356 |
| 19 | Simard | 0,354 |
| 20 | Boucher | 0,341 |
| 21 | Caron | 0,321 |
| 22 | Beaulieu | 0,300 |
| 23 | Cloutier | 0,297 |
| 24 | Dubé | 0,296 |
| 25 | Poirier | 0,295 |
(Source: http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/statistiques/population-demographie/caracteristiques/noms_famille_1000.htm)
We find half of our previous list among the top 25 most common names in Quebec today. The impact of these few pioneers is undeniable, even to this day!
And your pioneer ancestor?
The PRDH offers a free tool that lists all the pioneers for a given last name. If you have a French Canadian name, you can enter it here and obtain a list of pioneers for that name, assuming they arrived in Quebec before 1766.
How to determine which pioneer is your ancestor
Oftentimes, a last name can be linked to several pioneers. For example, two Desjardins living in Quebec today will not necessarily share the same pioneer ancestor; one may descend from Antoine Roy dit Desjardins, who arrived in Quebec in the 1660s, and the other from Pierre Desjardins, who only arrives in Quebec in the 18th century.
The only way to determine which pioneer is your direct ancestor is to do your ascending genealogy, starting with your parents all the way back to your first ancestor on Quebec soil.
Genealogical research websites such as Genealogy Quebec and the PRDH are great tools to go up your family tree and ultimately find out the history behind your name.
Frequently asked questions
The French Canadian population descends from a surprisingly small number of immigrants. Using PRDH data, half of the pioneers with the most male-line descendants married before 1800 have names that are among the top 25 most common names in Quebec in 2006.
While some pioneers had many descendants, most of them were female, and their last names were not passed down through the generations. Only patronymic descendants, those through the male side, carry a pioneer’s last name forward.
Not necessarily. A last name can be linked to several pioneers. One Desjardins living in Quebec today may descend from Antoine Roy dit Desjardins, who arrived in the 1660s, and another from Pierre Desjardins, who only arrived in the 18th century.
Do your ascending genealogy, starting with your parents and going back to your first ancestor on Quebec soil. The PRDH also offers a free tool that lists all the pioneers for a given last name, provided they arrived in Quebec before 1766.
