Rondeau
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Rondeau One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Frequency of the name
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Rondeau One-Name Study

My wife's maiden name is Rondeau. Almost all Rondeaus in the UK today are descended from Jean Rondeau a French Hugenot who arrived in London c1685. We have traced the Rondeau family back to Sedan in the 1500s. I am interested in connecting all known references to the name Rondeau to the family tree. Although I specialise in UK references I do have a large database of references from France especially Sedan. Descendants of Rondeaus who came to the UK have spread as far as the USA, Canada and Australia. Many French Rondeaus emigrated to Canada in the 1600s and there are now thousands of descendants in Canada and the US.

Variants

Rondeau is sometimes misread as Rondean and French variants can be spelt Rondo, Rondot, Rondeaux.

Early UK variants were probably phonetic spelling variations such as Roundeau, Rondau and Roandeau.

Origin of the surname

Rondeau is undoubtably of French origin, possibly loosely associated with place names, It appears to be fairly widespread in France.

Historical occurrences

The UK Rondeaus were French Hugenots and fled to London and Canterbury in the late 1600s to escape religious persecution. They were mostly master silk weavers.

Rondeaus who left their native France to live in French Canadaian Territory in the 1600s have spread throughout North America.

Stan Rondeau has written a small booklet outlining some of the history of the UK Rondeaus. It is peppered with interesting anecdotes and photographs. Contact Stan Rondeau stanley.rondeau@blueyonder.co.uk

Lewis Hussare, murdered his wife Ann Rondeau, in London in 1724

John Rondeau, sexton of Spitalfields was born in 1706. His bones and coffin plate are now in the Museum of London after excavation of the Spitalfields crypt.

There is a booklet written about William Rondeau 'The backwoods Preacher'. He trained as a lawyer and baptist minister and emigrated from Manchester to the USA in 1819 to become a flatboat owner on the Mississppi. The material is taken from his surviving diaries.

Rondeau Island near Golconda is named after him.

The Rondeau Provincial Park is in Ontario Canada.

Frequency of the name

There are about 127 individuals in the UK today with the name Rondeau.

There were 35 in 1901

There were 28 in 1881

There were 25 in 1871

There were 13 in 1861

There are 743 references in the Canadian 1881 census

There are over 500 references in the 1880 US census.

There are 1650 references in the 1930 US census

There are 2681 references in the French phone directory to the name

There are about 3750 references in Canadian phone directories.

There are about 2500 references in the US phone directories.

There are 48 references in the Belgium phone directory

There are 5 references in the Luxemboroug phone directory

There are 3 references in the Dutch phone directory.

Distribution of the name

The name is most frequent in France, Canada & the US.

Data

All English GRO birth, death and marriage references.

All known Rondeau wills in the UK.

Parish register references.

Trade directory references.

1901, 1891, 1881, 1871, 1861, 1851 and 1841 census details.

Electoral register and phone details.

Records of references to a branch in India.

Links

http://www.rondeauprovincialpark.ca/ Rondeau Provincial Park

http://pages.infinit.net/geneluc/dictionary.pdf Luc Rondeau's 'Rondeau Dictionary'

http://pages.infinit.net/geneluc/indexa.htm Luc Rondeau's website for history of French Canadian Rondeaus

http://genforum.genealogy.com/rondeau/ Rondeau message board.

luc.rondeau@videotron.ca For Canadian and US information.

paul@brid43.freeserve.co.uk Mainly, UK, Indian and French information.

stanley.rondeau@blueyonder.co.uk UK information and author of Hugenot Tales.

http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gskw=rondeau&ti=3&ti.si=3&rank=0&hc=25&gss=mb&db=mb&application=public&filter=0&utype=Admin Rondeau message board

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mr Paul Smith
5 Keppel Drive,
Martongate,
Bridlington,
East Yorkshire
YO16 6ZD
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail:

This page last updated 4 August 2008.

This page has been viewed 4423 times.

Profiles of other one-name studies registered with the Guild may be found here.