The French influence and an early immigrant to Quebec, Canada

The 2001 edition of Paul A Plante's book Dictionnaire Genealogique Des Familles Plante en Amerique (1600-2000), distributed by Les Editions C.G.L., CP 21027 Succ. Jacques-Cartier, Longueuil, Quebec, Canada J4J5J4 contains some 23,000 entries, mainly with the spelling Plante. There are also 47 with the Plant surname, such as one with a line which went to Maine and which displays many name changes between the spellings Plante and Plant. There are also 118 with the spelling Plaunt.

It is claimed, probably fictitiously, that there were `Plant like' names in France as early as the 7th century. Certainly, the name Planta pilosa arises as a Duke of Aquitaine in the 9th century. Subsequently, following the collapse of the Angevin Empire (1154-1204), the name spelling Plante is found in England by 1262 (Essex). There are various 16th century occurrences of the spelling Plante in the IGI for both England and France..

• England: Leicestershire (1548, 1567, 1569, 1569, 1569, 1590); Norfolk (1556, 1556, 1582); Cheshire (1561, 1561, 1561, 1561, 1562, 1562, 1562, 1562, 1562, 1570, 1574, 1574, 1576, 1576, 1576, 1576, 1576, 1585, 1585, 1585, 1585, 1590, 1590, 1590, 1590, 1590, 1590, 1593, 1593, 1593, 1594, 1594, 1594, 1594, 1594, 1597, 1597, 1597, 1598, 1598, 1599, 1599, 1599, 1599); Staffordshire (1564, 1578, 1590, 1595, 1596); London (1569, 1569, 1577, 1596); Oxfordshire (1575, 1575); Lincolnshire (1579, 1592, 1592, 1598); Nottinghamshire (1595, 1596, 1596)
• France: La Rochelle (1520, 1595, 1595, 1595, 1595, 1595, 1596, 1597); Charente-Maritime (1595, 1595)

In particular, a list of immigrants to Quebec includes:-

• Jean Plante, born about 1626, from La Rochelle, Charante-Maritime, France 17300, parents Nicholas Plante and Isabelle Chauvin.

The father, Nicholas Plante, is probably he who was born c1593 at Laleu, La Rochelle, France. Some further information about the Canadian Plantes is given..

• in Journal Number 5 of the listing of Journals in the article called "The French Connection"; and,
• on a French-Canadian Plante Family web site.

Some information from Paul A Plante of the Canadian Plante Family Group (July 2001)..

• The Plante coat of arms on the above-mentioned French-Canadian Plante Family web site has nothing to do with heritage; it was drawn up in Levi about 10 years ago and is not even registered in Ottawa.
• Concerning possible connections to the UK Plants, the Quebec line of the Plante family is first mentioned about 1636 in the registers of St-Pierre of Laleu (which was incorporated into La Rochelle on the West coast of France in 1880). From experienced genealogists in La Rochelle and Laleu, it appears that the Chauvin family of Nicholas Plante's wife were local. There is a Plante in Carhaix (Plounevezel) shortly after, and the Plante name still exists in Bretagne today. So Nicholas was probably a migrant from Bretagne who came to work on the harbour after the siege of La Rochelle (1628) unless he came with the French army. It would be interesting to compare DNA for Plant and Plante.

More recent Y-DNA testing indicates that the main French Canadian Plante family is genetically distinct from the main English Plant family.

The name DuPlane is known to have existed in France since 1680 and the name DuPlant(e)(s) is found in Quebec and Louisiana since the 18th century. The English surname Plant(e) evidently originated mostly with the Welsh meaning `children'. By the 14th century in England, it evidently also had the meaning a `planted spirit of the Lord' and a tradition of such meaning may have continued with DuPlan(t)e meaning `earthly child' (i.e. minor mundis) or `from the planted Word of creation'. It is also argued, however, that the French spelling Plante means `from a planted place or plantation'.

Plant Name Distribution Page