Where does the Cloutier / Clutchey name come from?

ORIGIN OF THE CLOUTIER SURNAME

		Before the 10th Century in France, family surnames did not exist. Only a name was used to refer to a person, usually the name received at the christening of the child. Inevitably, the use of aliases spread to permit identification of people with the same name, as the population grew larger. Of course, this was for the common people only. As the nobles with their multiple names and surnames did not have this problem. In 1539, King Francis I of France decreed the creation of the civil records in his Villers-Cotterêts edict in order to register the vital statistics of all his people. At the same occasion, he made obligatory the passing of the father's surname to all his children. The men who did not already have a surname had to choose one.

Before the 10th Century in France, family surnames did not exist. Only a name was used to refer to a person, usually the name received at the christening of the child.

Inevitably, the use of aliases spread to permit identification of people with the same name, as the population grew larger.

Of course, this was for the common people only. As the nobles with their multiple names and surnames did not have this problem.

In 1539, King Francis I of France decreed the creation of the civil records in his Villers-Cotterêts edict in order to register the vital statistics of all his people. At the same occasion, he made obligatory the passing of the father's surname to all his children. The men who did not already have a surname had to choose one.

So, the surnames were found diversely:

from a region (Champagne)
from a city (Parisien, Parisian)
a foreign origin (Lallemand, the German)
from a relation (Legendre, the son-in-law)
from a title (Marquis)
from a trade (Cloutier, nail maker or nail dealer)
from a location (Vallée, valley)
from an animal (Lelièvre, the rabbit)
from a plant (Poirier, pear tree)
from a human quality (Ledoux, the gentle one)
from human nature (Malenfant, bad child)
from a physical disability (Lesourd, the deaf one)
from a physical feature (Legrand, the tall one)
from a character feature (Sanregret, without regret), etc.

Even if our ancestor was not in the nail business, it seems most probable that if we could go up one or two more generations in our line, we would find a nail maker or a nail dealer.

But how did we go from Cloutier to Clutchey?

Family Legend #1: Some time in the 1800's a Census was taken. The people who wrote the names down were English speaking. When they wrote the name down they spelt it the way it sounded. Thus ending up with an incorrect spelling.

Family Legend #2: In order to distance the one family branch from another branch the name was purposely changed.

What ever the reason if your last name is Cloutier, Clukey, Clutchey, Cluchey, Clouthier, Clutier, Clukay, Cluckey, Clookey or Nailor you are related.

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Clutchey Family Website

ORIGIN OF THE CLOUTIER SURNAME

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