Talk:De Villiers Graaff
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[edit] Spelling of the surname
Discusssion moved to Graaff Baronets. - Kittybrewster (talk) 06:25, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] The French Origin of the de Villiers Name
The de Villiers name is in fact of French Huguenot origin. The "de" is French for "of" or "from". The progenitors of the de Villiers name in the South African region were Pierre / Abraham / & Jacques de Villiers from La Rochelle France who arrived in the Cape in 1689. Even before I learned this fact I have long known that de Villiers was a French name as I live in Quebec where there are a number of de Villiers (as there are in France & South Africa) & am fluent in French. The de Villiers name is one of the more easily recognizable French names.
Some Afrikaans names of French origin such as Viljoen -from Villion- / Pienaar -from Pinard- / Cronje -from Cronier- & Nortje -from Nortier- are harder to recognize as French before learning the history of those specific names in the region.
Names such as Joubert / Du Plessis / Terreblanche / Du Toit / Le Roux / Marais & Naudé are much easier to recognize as French names as they have retained their original French spelling.
