Glossary

This is a short glossary of terms you will see on this site.

• Dit - dit names are aliases or nicknames used by French people.  Someone would have been born Pierre Dubois, but also known as Pierre Brisebois, and his name would be written as Pierre Dubois dit Brisebois.  Many times the alias or dit name was a profession (ie dit Carpenter, as in a woodworker), a place the person was from (ie dit L'ecossais, the Scottish), or a physical description or rank in family (ie dit Lejeune, as in the younger one or dit L'aîné, as in the elder). 
• Dite - dite names are the female version of dit names.  See Dit.
• Nouvelle France - This is what the French-Canadian area was known, before it was Canada.  It translates to "New France."
• Ou - this basically means "or" for instance Ardion ou Arguion.  I use "ou" for surnames that have been written or spoken differently, but for the same person or family, especially if I don't know the exact generation when the surname had changed from one spelling to the other.
• Sieur - means Sir, a title of respect toward a male, in French.