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  • Contessoir

    I am wanting any information on the name CONTESSOIR, which my mother and her dad both have in their forenames. Google and the Internet have both failed me at the moment.

  • #2
    Hello Clive and welcome to FTF

    Are you sure of the spelling? There isn't a single mention of this name anywhere on the internet.

    Normally, a name like this would be a family name, someone's maiden name perhaps, but as there is no mention of it anywhere then that seems a bit unlikely.

    OC

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    • #3
      To add to OC's comment, an ancestor's surname often ends up as descendants' middle name, sometimes several generations later.
      Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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      • #4
        Hello OC, yes the spelling is correct as I have checked both documents. I have found a surname of CONTES on the Internet. I wonder where the SOIR bit comes in though? Also above the e in each is either a small / on one and going the other way \ on the other, I suppose denoting the male and female versions.

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        • #5
          This is a puzzle - it sounds French but can't find anyone with this name either in France- has it been deformed from its original version - it does makes me think of 'conte du soir' said quickly it would sound like Contessoir - literally 'evening tale - loose translation 'fireside tale' -
          CAROLE : "A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK"

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          • #6
            Taffyfrog

            I'ver forgotten most of the French I ever knew, but could it mean " evening storyteller" - as in Contes soir?

            As for the accent going one way, then the other, I think that would have more to do with the ignorance of the clerk. I am not aware that the direction of the accent has anything to do with denoting gender.

            My great grandfather, grandfather and father all have an unusual "surname" for a middle name. As my great grandfather made up this name (it's not on his birth certificate, nor was he baptised with it) and started using it in middle age, I have to assume it was merely a Victorian affectation. I have not traced this name as a surname anywhere in my family's history.

            OC

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            • #7
              I can see a reference to this name on the England BMDs - with a surname of Harnett.
              Is this part of your family?
              Elaine







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              • #8
                i agree it will be french, maybe a corruption of the original french name, huguenot maybe?

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                • #9
                  Well done Elaine, I searched freebmd and couldn't find a single ref to the name.

                  Can you put a date on when it was first used please as that may give a clue to why it was used.

                  OC

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                  • #10
                    My apologies - it wasn't in the BMDs - it was on an Ancestry private tree. :(
                    Birth year given as 1904.
                    Elaine







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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Clive Davies View Post
                      I am wanting any information on the name CONTESSOIR, which my mother and her dad both have in their forenames.
                      Have you managed to trace back to your great grandparents. Is there any evidence of French ancestors?
                      Elaine







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                      • #12
                        The same person married in Devonport in 1928, registered under the alternative surnames Harnett and Contessoir-Harnett.

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                        • #13
                          I haven't found any trace of a similar French name, and the accents would be wrong, anyway (no accent before a double ss as far as I know). The nearest word that comes to mind is the Italian contessa, which is a title meaning countess.

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                          • #14
                            There are a handful of entries on Ancestry for the name Contessier (France and USA), Contessor and Contesser (Australia).

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
                              The same person married in Devonport in 1928, registered under the alternative surnames Harnett and Contessoir-Harnett.
                              I thought I had seen it somewhere in the BMDs!
                              Elaine







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                              • #16
                                Have found ther marriage quoted by Mary above, in 1928 - wonder why my search of freebmd didn't find it?????

                                Clive - I cannot see a birth for F W D C-H - can you please tell us when he was born? If he has passed away, you can put his details in full here - who was his mother?

                                OC

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                                • #17
                                  Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
                                  Clive - I cannot see a birth for F W D C-H - can you please tell us when he was born?
                                  We don't know yet whether this is Clive's ancestor ... do we?
                                  Elaine







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                                  • #18
                                    No, we don't Elaine...but given the absolute rarity of the name I'm sure this is his relative!

                                    Anyway, even if it isn't, I have to thank Clive for (inadvertently) showing me a new way to search -

                                    "Contessoir" produced nothing on Freebmd.

                                    "Contessoir*" produced the entry that Mary found!

                                    OC
                                    Last edited by Olde Crone Holden; 16-05-12, 21:47. Reason: Capitals

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                                    • #19
                                      I've been trying to find Mr Contessoir-Harnett, but I can't see an obvious birth for him, and I can't find him in the 1911 census either, even just using the surname Harnett. I can see his wife's death; she died quite young, and it doesn't look as though they had any children. I can't find a death for him, although if he was born in 1904 as the private tree on Ancestry says, he would almost certainly have died by 2005, which is the date that Ancestry deaths go up to. Very annoying.
                                      Last edited by Mary from Italy; 16-05-12, 22:14.

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                                      • #20
                                        OC is right about the accents in French - nothing to do with masculine or feminine - just about the way the 'e' environment is pronounced and also came to te same conclusion as Mary.
                                        But 'story teller' would be a 'conteur'

                                        OC-let us in on the secret - the new way to research -to do with the *? Have only used this with the first letters of the name so far
                                        CAROLE : "A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK"

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