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I've been helping one of my clients research his family tree. Both sides of his family go back to Norman Lords. Gislebert dit Van Gent on his dad's side and Gilbert De Venables on his mum's. Bloody fascinating.
He's directly related to Charlemagne which means he's also distantly related to King Charlie via Prince Albert. #csb
RonAsheton-
Is this your line of work, Ron?
I used findmypast during Lockdown to research my family tree. Only managed to get so far back as records dwindled.
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I'm descended from the De Havillands, great grandmother's maiden name is the anglicised and shortened version Havill. Havill street in Camberwell is named after one of my ancestors. I'm from Sheppey so definitely not posh.
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Your transformation to Facebook mum is nearly complete. Next up, minion memes
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Nothing special about being related to Charlemagne.
Ben689908
KatBalou'sPhone
Sumo
Ramsaye
It's more complicated than that. French surnames like Dujardin and Dupont aren't at all aristratic; they're emphatically plebeian in origin. Nobody with a surname like that can trace direct (and "legitimate") male line descent back to a Norman aristo. On the other hand, if the family surname survived a few centuries in Britain without being anglicised (rather than tracing back to a more recent arrival), the original immigrant family probably climbed a bit up the social ladder, before or after they arrived here. Demlin? French immigrants who stayed pleb. De Moleyns? Posh.