What Does de Moulpied Mean?

Starting with the shortest version which is prevalent in the U.S., the name maintains the beginning and the end translations. The "de" means "of" or "from" which is how the French hundreds of years ago created their last names/surnames. In my neck of the woods in New Hampshire we have a lot of French last names so I am very used to names beginning with "de".

The ending "pied" means "foot". I always thought that was kind of nice since I like to dance and took ballet which uses a lot of "pied".

Now the "Moul" takes its origins from "Mouil". I am not sure how or why that first "i" was dropped but in the East Coast deMoulpieds, it was dropped the generation after Joseph, a little over 100 years ago. The Mid West de Moulpieds also had the "i" dropped within one or two generations based on records. On one reference it's there, on the next reference it's gone.

"Mouil" is alive and well in Guernsey and other places like England and Australia as well. "Mouil" survived, according to records, from the early 1600's. Even on the island, the records get loose in their writing once you go back to the 1600's, sometimes phonetic but closer to original. The early records do show some transitioning from Mouillepied to Mouilpied.(thank goodness, imagine the length). This is also verified by cousin Deborah from Maine, who has copies of the Coats of Arms and was told by her insisting mother that the original name was spelled de Mouillepied. Personally I am fascinated how Deborah's mother knew this - had she seen the Coats before? Was it such strong pride that this information was sure to be passed down the generations? Cousin Kathy has also been to Guernsey and has copied records showing very early genealogy entrances "Mouillepied" then switching to "Mouilpied". In Addition, "Mouil" is tough to translate. Typing it in does not offer anything but other suggestions, one of which is "mouille". So I am confident that to derive meaning from the name, we need to go back to the original spelling, so "mouille" it is.

Mouille does translate into "wet", also closely associated with anchor, port, water damage, river, and spring fed. My Dad used to say moldy which prompted a yuck. But he would quickly switch to liking the thought that it meant athlete's foot (another yuck). Since he was a runner (qualified for the 1934 Olympics, but so did 6 other people) that made sense. I always thought we were on the low end of Guernsey, perhaps surrounded by swamps but luckily that is not the case. If we take the original name "Mouillepied", assume its origins are as they say on the description of the Coats of Arms, this takes us back to the area in France called Mouillepied. And voila, the area, including a lovely Chateau named de Mouillepied, is spring fed with bubbling fresh water coming out of the ground, some even feeding fountains. (by the way, I hear the Chateau is up for sale!)

So there you have it "of wet foot" relatives. Any thoughts?