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Huguenin roots
The Huguenin family has its legal origin ("commune d'origine" or "Heimat") at Le Locle,
a watchmaking centre in the upper part of the canton of Neuchâtel near the
French border. Le Locle and the surrounding valleys were colonised in the
13th and 14th centuries by brave pioneers who cleared
the land in return for increasing freedom, and the founder of our family
was among these first settlers. Huguenin was originally a first name, a
diminutive of the French name "Hugues" (from the German "Hugo" meaning "mind"
or "thought"), and relatively common in the area. As frequently happened,
descendants of one of the many bearers of the name adopted it as their surname,
and the Huguenin family of Le Locle was born.
Documents dated 1461/62 refer to two brothers, Jehan and Vuillemin Huguenin, while Vuillemin's adult sons, Othenin and Jehan
are mentioned in 1463. From this, we can conclude that the sons were born
no later than 1443, and their father at least twenty years earlier. Various
early spellings can be found, such as "Heuguenin", "Heugonin" and "Hugonin":
a document dated 1461 in the Musée Neuchâtelois refers to Jehan "Hogonnin"
and his daughters, Jaqueta and Hogoneta. "Huguenin" was still occasionally
given as a first name to boys of the region as late as the end of the 18th
century, even if "Hogoneta" mercifully fell into disuse!
The
similarity between "Huguenin" and "Huguenot" has caused confusion over the
years, but it can be seen that the origins of the family at Le Locle clearly
predate the Reformation, let alone the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
in 1685 and the subsequent flight of French Protestants.
Within
a few generations, the Huguenin family had become so numerous in the area
that it became necessary to use nicknames to distinguish the different branches,
such as our own Huguenin-Virchaux
line. These were probably used unofficially at first, but gradually became
the accepted form of the surname. In local parish registers, their use was
haphazard for many years, complicating the work of genealogists, with brothers
and sisters apparently baptised under different surnames! Today, most family
members use the short form "Huguenin", although the civil registry at Le
Locle and official documents use the compound forms. There are currently
just under 1,000 entries for "Huguenin" in the Swiss telephone directory.
We have identified 20 distinct branches
of the Huguenin family so far: Huguenin-Benjamin, Huguenin-Bergenat, Huguenin
des Bois, Huguenin-Bosson, Huguenin-Dezot, Huguenin-Dumittan, Huguenin-Elie,
Huguenin d'Hotaux, Huguenin-Jonathan, Huguenin-Junet, Huguenin-Lardy, Huguenin-Lenoir,
Huguenin-Matthey, Huguenin-Richard, Huguenin-Tenet, Huguenin-Virchaux, Huguenin-Vuillemenet,
Huguenin-Vuillemin and Jeanhuguenin. Double patronyms such as these are typical of the canton of Neuchâtel and also of the adjoining Franche-Comté region of France.
Our
main tree contains details of over 10,000 descendants of Jehan and Vuillemin
Huguenin whose unbroken line can be traced, mainly living in and around Le
Locle, La Chaux-du-Milieu, Les Ponts-de-Martel, La Sagne, Les Planchettes
and La Chaux-de-Fonds, as well as emigrant branches all over the world.
We also have partial lines of many other Huguenin branches, giving a total
of about 5,000 bearers of the name.
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