Origines of the Pelletier name
The name PELLETIER comes from the Latin pellis, which means furrier, one who buys, sells, or prepares furs or pelts, or one in the fur trade. The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded the wearing of furs as barbaric, but by the fifth century, the taste for rare and valuable fur-lined coats had taken the West by storm. In France, for in-stance, Charlemagne used to wear a doublet lined with otter skins during the winter. Moreover, by 1346, the fur merchants of Paris had their own special status and privi-leges.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that these many tradesmen adopted and passed along the Pelletier family name.
The Pelletier Family Association website offers its readers a summary of the lives and times of the Pelletiers who came to settle in New France. Many of the descendants of these first pioneers still bear the Pelletier name, while other lines disappeared after only a few generations.
Every family has a story. What’s yours?
Variations on a theme
During your genealogical research, it is quite possible to meet various ways of writing the name PELLETIER or to see different variations on the same theme occurred through migration or at the discretion of marriages.
Antaya, concerns the descendants of the son of Nicolas Peltier, François, who had married an Indian. ·
Pelkey, Pelky or Pelkie, an American adaptation of the name Pelletier.
Peltier, mainly in use by the anglophone American Pelletiers. It is also found in France.
Peletier, with one "L" a rare form which usually occurs in England.
Pelletier, Lepelletier, Peltier & Lepeltier generally used in France.
Peleiteiro, is only found in Portugal.
Here are other changes that we have been able to find and check, perhaps you will be able to bring us proof of their existence; Pelletiers, Pelletiere, Pelletierre the Pelletiere, Pellettieri, Peltiers, Peltiere, Peltierre, Pellettier, Pellettiere and Pelter.
Do you know any other variations?
Canadian roots
Born in 1634 in the commune of Saint-Martin-de-Fraigneau in Vendée and is the origine of the second biggest branch of the Pelletiers in North Amercica. (New Texts and Photos)
Because many people had the same family name, they had to find a way to distinguish between them thus the use of surnames was popular.
Other Pelletier without descendants
