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?

deMoulpieds in the USA

Hello all. I and some cousins have been researching the deMoulpied family in the USA and Guernsey for a few years now. I will briefly go over what I have pieced together so far.

The deMoulpied line in the USA I come from originated with Joseph deMouilpied, a minister, who came to Canada around 1853, eventually having 6 children. Three of his sons came to America, 2 settling in Manchester, New Hampshire. I will call this the East Coast deMoulpieds.

Joseph had a sister, Charlotte, who also spent time in Canada and married Francis de la Mare. Joseph and Charlotte's parents were Thomas deMouilpied and Marie Blondel back in Guernsey. THAT will be another blog.

A couple of generations before Joseph, a Nicolas deMouilped, came to the USA and settled in Wisconsin. I will call this the Mid-West deMoulpieds.

Both Joseph and Nicolas are from the same lineage, a few generations apart but related for sure. I am fairly certain that these are the only 2 deMoulpieds who came from the Isle of Guernsey to the USA. Please let me know if you know otherwise. So, I guess we are all related!

Both Nicolas and Joseph originally had the Island spelling of deMouilpied. It can be tracked which generations dropped the "i" before the "l".

Also from this lineage, a brother of Nicolas went to Australia and there is a line there too. Other deMoulpieds might have also gone to Australia but I do know this one related line.

My circle of cousins and I have compiled quite a comprehensive family tree which I hope to get on line soon. The East coast deMoulpieds are fairly well accounted for. The Midwest group, well we need some help. I have LOTS of fantastic photos starting with Joseph and even his Parents in Guernsey. Again, I will try to get these on as soon as I can.

Back in Guernsey, we have the family lineage well established back to the late 1500's. The deMouilpieds were land holders and enjoyed good status on the island. We have copies of the family shield and motto. There is a road and section of the island named after the family name, and beautiful still standing homesteads.

The shield that so many different cousins have/had are all the same. It says in french the name is actually Du Port, Lord of Mouillepied and le Bois Masson. It also says he was a Marquis. So our detective brains have concluded that deMouilpied came from the La Rochelle area of France and owned the Land parcels of Mouillepied and Bois Masson, and his name was actually Du Port. Du Port fled to Guernsey because of the first wave of Huguenots slaughter and upon arriving in Guernsey, changed his last name to, from where he came, de (from) Mouillepied. This was a very common way to name yourself back then. Now check this out: Chateau Mouillepied

This is all very exciting. Hope to hear from you! Debby deMoulpied