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Help[Opinions] Re: Alphonsine vs Marie
in reply to a message by Fiammetta
"du" means "from," "plessis" refers to a woven type fence or enclosure. Du Plessis just means "from the woven fence" while plessis is... the thing itself. Is it fancier to be *from* the fence, than the fence itself? I personally don't think it's a particularly fancy name either way.
As for first names, my guess would be that Marie du Plessis was a fairly generic name at the time (it still is where I live), which would have allowed her some anonymity. I have no idea how common Alphonsine was, but I like it a lot. My favourite form of Violet-names is Viola, but Violetta is gorgeous, long in an elegant way. Marguerite is my favourite version of Margaret.
As for first names, my guess would be that Marie du Plessis was a fairly generic name at the time (it still is where I live), which would have allowed her some anonymity. I have no idea how common Alphonsine was, but I like it a lot. My favourite form of Violet-names is Viola, but Violetta is gorgeous, long in an elegant way. Marguerite is my favourite version of Margaret.
This message was edited 6/16/2025, 11:06 AM
Replies
It's pretty well known in French that the ''particule'' (de, de la, du) was considered a sign of nobility.
At first, it was indeed used to indicate where was person ''from'', but it was also adopted by noble families under the Ancien Régime to generally indicate ownership of a seigneury. Many old bourgeois families imitated this movement from the 18th century onward, because in the end, everyone wanted to imitate the nobility. So much so that today, a majority of French families bearing a name with a particle are non-noble families, of course.
Here are examples: Alfred de Musset, Jean de La Fontaine, Marquis de La Fayette, Comtesse de Ségur, Marquis de Sade, Madame de Maintenon, Madame de Sévigné, Charles de Gaulle (de Gaulle is a good example of a family using the particule, but not having any noble ties).
It's also something that was historically present in other European languages. German speakers use ''Von'', Spanish speakers have the particule ''de, de la'', etc.
So yeah, people would add it to their name to give an appearance of higher birth.
At first, it was indeed used to indicate where was person ''from'', but it was also adopted by noble families under the Ancien Régime to generally indicate ownership of a seigneury. Many old bourgeois families imitated this movement from the 18th century onward, because in the end, everyone wanted to imitate the nobility. So much so that today, a majority of French families bearing a name with a particle are non-noble families, of course.
Here are examples: Alfred de Musset, Jean de La Fontaine, Marquis de La Fayette, Comtesse de Ségur, Marquis de Sade, Madame de Maintenon, Madame de Sévigné, Charles de Gaulle (de Gaulle is a good example of a family using the particule, but not having any noble ties).
It's also something that was historically present in other European languages. German speakers use ''Von'', Spanish speakers have the particule ''de, de la'', etc.
So yeah, people would add it to their name to give an appearance of higher birth.
This message was edited 6/16/2025, 7:22 PM
It’s not very fancy but I guess slightly more elaborate ?