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If your surname isn’t Le Feuvre, Nicolle or Le Sueur, chances are you know someone else with that name.
That’s because these are the top three Jersey surnames according to new statistics from Jersey Heritage, who last week announced a collaboration with the Ancestry.
As a result of the new collaboration, islanders will now be able to reach even further branches of their family tree, revealing yet more interesting details along the way.
Pictured: The full list of Jersey's most popular names.
Top scoring name Le Feuvre, for example, started cropping up in Jersey in the 13th Century. While not so common among our English friends across the pond, Le Feuvre is actually the French equivalent of ‘Smith’ and literally bears the meaning ‘blacksmith’.
Despite its ‘common’ heritage, it’s a name shared with two rather notable Islanders: Philip Le Feuvre (1892 – 1955), Senator and Instigator of the Island’s Social Security Scheme, and Iris Le Feuvre (1928 - ), the first ever female parish constable to be elected in Jersey in 1978.
Le Sueur, however – a name predominantly concentrated in St Helier and Trinity in the mid-19th Century - takes its roots in Normandy, and means ‘shoemaker’.
Gallichans, meanwhile, are actually from Spanish town Galicia, documents reveal – perhaps a mark of past Mediterranean trade visits.
Taking the record as one of the Island’s oldest names is De La Haye, which also happens to be the name of the first ever producer of the celebrated Jersey potato, Hugh De La Haye (1835 – 1906).
Pictured: Hugh De La Haye, who bears the fifteenth most popular name on the list, was the inventor of the now world revered Jersey Royal potato.
He developed the prestigious spud as a cross between two large potatoes he’d been given, firstly naming them the ‘Royal Jersey Flukes’. But ‘flukes’ they are no more, now famous worldwide as ‘Royals’.
Another humorous revelation is that of Blampied – a literal translation being ‘white foot’, originating from a man too dainty to get his feet dirty.
So popular are these names, that seven can be found working in the States Chamber alone: two Le Sueurs (Connétables of Trinity and St Saviour), one Noel (the current Minister for Infrastructure), one Gallichan (Connétable of St Mary), one Le Maistre (Connétable of Grouville), one Norman (Connétable of St Clement), and one Luce (Environment Minister).
The updated records collection can be searched by visiting www.ancestry.co.uk or can be done for free by accessing the Ancestry catalogue at Jersey Archive.
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