What Is a Dit Name in French Canadian Genealogy

A dit name is  essentially an alias, or alternate name, tacked on to a family name or surname.  Dit  (pronounced dee) is a French form of the word dire, which means to say, and in the case of dit names is translated loosely as that is to say, or called. Therefore, the first name is the familys original surname, passed down to them by an ancestor, while the dit name is the name the person/family is actually called or known as. Dit names are found primarily  in New France (French-Canada, Louisiana, etc.), France, and sometimes Scotland. They are  used by families, not specific individuals, and are usually passed down to future generations, either in place of the original surname, or in addition to it. After several generations, many families eventually settled on one surname or the other, although it isnt uncommon to see some siblings within the same family using the original surname, while others carried on the dit name. The use of dit names slowed dramatically during the mid- to late-1800s, although they could still be found used by some families into the early twentieth century. Why a Dit Name? Dit names were often adopted by families to distinguish them from another branch of the same family.  The specific dit name may also have been chosen for many of the same reasons as the original surname - as a nickname based on trade or physical characteristics, or to identify the ancestral place of origin (e.g. Andre Jarret de Beauregard, where Beauregard refers to the ancestral home in the French province of Dauphine). The mothers surname, or even the fathers first name, may also have been adopted as a dit name. Interestingly, many  dit names derived from military service, where early French military rules required a  nom de guerre, or war name, for all regular soldiers. This practice was a precursor to identification numbers, allowing soldiers to be identified collectively by their given name, their family name, and their nom de guerre. Example of a Dit Name Gustave Eiffel, architect of the Eiffel Tower, was born Alexandre Gustave Bonickhausen dit Eiffel in Dijon, France, on 15 December 1832. He was a descendant of  Jean-Renà © Bà ¶nickhausen, who emigrated to France from the German town of Marmagen in the early 18th century. The  dit name Eiffel was adopted by descendants of  Jean-Renà ©Ã‚  for the Eifel mountain region of Germany from which  he  had come. Gustave formally changed his name to Eiffel in 1880. How You Might See Dit Names Recorded A dit name can be legally used to replace the familys original surname. Sometimes the two surnames may be linked as one family name, or you may find families who use the two surnames interchangeably. Thus, you may find an individuals name recorded with a dit name, or under either just the original surname or just the dit name. Dit names may also be found reversed with the original surname, or as hyphenated surnames. Hudon dit Beaulieu Hudon-Beaulieu Beaulieu dit Hudon Beaulieu-Hudon Hudon Beaulieu Hudon Beaulieu Hudon Beaulieu How to Record a Dit Name in Your Family Tree When recording a dit name in your family tree, it is generally standard practice to record it in its most common form - e.g. Hudon dit Beaulieu. A standardized list of dit names with their common variants can be found in Rene Jettes Rà ©pertoire des Noms de Famille du Quà ©bec des Origines à   1825 and Msgr Cyprien Tanguays Dictionnaire genealogique des familles canadiennes (Volume 7). Another extensive source is The dit Name: French Canadian Surnames, Aliases, Adulterations, and Anglicizations by Robert J. Quentin. The American-French Genealogical Society also has an extensive online list of French-Canadian surnames, including variants, dit names, and Anglicizations.  When the name is not found in one of the above sources, you can use a phone book (Quà ©bec City or Montrà ©al) to find the most common form or, even better, just record it in the form most often used by your ancestors.

The Rise Of The French Revolution - 890 Words

As a result of the radical French Revolution, many new changes ensued such as the establishing of a republic, the collapse of the Ancien Rà ©gime, and the weakening of the Coalition. After the royal family was found trying to escape to Austria in Varennes, they were seen as traitors to France and put on trial. At Louis’ execution, â€Å"The executioners seized him, the knife struck him, his head fell at fifteen minutes after ten. The executioners seized it by the hair, and showed it to the multitude, whose cries of ‘Long live the Republic!’ resounded to the very bosom of the Convention...† The execution of the king and queen allowed for the monarchy in France to be abolished. This resulted in the commoners developing France into a republic that was more civil and democratic. Furthermore, the executions permitted members of the Third Estate to abolish the social structures of the Ancien Rà ©gime. 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10th Grade Biology Textbook Analysis Free Essays

10th Grade Biology Textbook Analysis: A Readability Study Teachers should consider assessing the textbooks they are planning to use in the classroom. Textbook evaluations and assessing students’ connections with texts are important tasks for content area teachers and students (Vacca, 2002). Teachers are constantly assessing the suitability of reading material for their students. We will write a custom essay sample on 10th Grade Biology Textbook Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Readability can be defined as the grade level at which a document is written. Readability is concerned with the factors that affect students’ success in reading and understanding a text. These factors include the legibility of the print and illustrations, the motivation and interest of the reader, and the reading level of the text in relation to the reading ability of the reader (Johnson, 1998). These key ideas of readability are at the heart of choosing the best textbooks for students. There are many readability formulas or indexes teachers can use to objectively measure the readability of textbooks. Many readability formulas have been developed as a result of research evidence (Johnson, 1998). Most readability formula and index values are calculated by measuring sentence length and word familiarity or word length to determine a grade-level score for text passages (Vacca, 2002). There are several widely used readability formulas. The Fry Readability Graph was developed by Edward Fry in 1977 for the purpose of predicting readability. It is a quick and simple readability formula. He used the common formula variables of syllables per 100 words and words per sentence. The user marks the counts of the variables on a graph and then reads the readability grade score directly from it. The graph was designed to identify the grade-level score for materials from grade 1 though college and can predict the difficulty of the material within one grade level (Vacca, 2002). Flesch-Kincaid Formula was developed to be used as a US Government Department of Defense standard test. The formula uses two factors: the average number of syllables per 100 words and the average number of words per sentence. The score in this case indicates a grade level (Johnson, 1998). Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index is automatically calculated on Microsoft ® Word documents. Microsoft ® Word will display readability statistics after it has completed a grammar check, which is accessible from the tool bar (Arnold, n. d. ). Dale-Chall Readability Formula has a 3,000 â€Å"familiar word† list which is used as a guide to identify â€Å"difficult words†. This formula uses two factors: the average sentence length and the percentage of unfamiliar, or difficult, words (Intervention, n. . ). Gunning’s ‘FOG’ Readability Formula is suitable for secondary and older primary age groups. Gunning proposed counting words of three or more syllables, assigning them as â€Å"hard words†. The formula is based on two counts, that of average sentence length and the percentage of â€Å"hard words† (Johnson, 1998). The ‘SMOG’ Formula tends to give higher values t han the other formulas because it was intended to predict the level necessary for 90 – 100% comprehension of the reading material, i. e. when the SMOG formula yields a readability score of ten for a particular textbook, the students reading on a tenth grade level will be reading the material with 90 to 100% accuracy (Johnson, 1998). FORCAST Formula was devised for assessing US army technical manuals and is not suitable for primary age materials. But, because it is one of the only formulas that does not need whole sentences, it is suitable for assessing notes and test questions. The only factor used to calculate the FORCAST formula is the number of single-syllable words found in a sample of 150 total words (Johnson, 1998). According to Vacca (2002), the Close Procedure does not use a formula to determine readability. This procedure determines how well students can read a particular reading passage as a result of their interaction with the reading material. In this method every nth word is deleted from the passage, leaving a blank in its space. The passage is given to students to fill in the missing words and the completed passage is used to evaluate students’ ability to accurately supply the missing words. The General Textbook Readability Checklist is a checklist that focuses on the understandability, usability, and interestability of a textbook. This purpose of this study was to examine textbook readability by applying several readability formulas, including the Fry Readability Graph, Flesch-Kincaid Formula, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index, Dale-Chall Readability Formula, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readability Formula, McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula, FORCAST Formula, Cloze Procedure and the General Textbook Readability Checklist, to a biology textbook titled, Modern Biology. Method Materials Materials used in this study included a 10th grade biology textbook, Modern Biology as well as the procedural guidelines for each of the readability formulas that will be used to assess the textbook. Procedure 18 passages were randomly selected from the Modern Biology textbook and the appropriate pages photocopied. The photocopied passages were then placed into 5 groups having three samples each (Fry Readability Graph Group- Appendix A, Flesch-Kincaid Formula Group- Appendix B, Dale-Chall Readability Formula Group –Appendix D, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readability Formula Group- Appendix E, and FORCAST Formula Group- Appendix G), and three separate groups containing one passage each (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index Group- Appendix C, McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula Group- Appendix F, and Cloze Procedure Group- Appendix H). A more subjective measure was used in the General Textbook Readability Checklist (Appendix I). Procedures were followed for each of the Formulas and Indexes, and results were tabulated and reported. A brief summary and discussion were included in the write-up. Results and Discussion This purpose of this study was to examine textbook readability by applying several readability formulas, including the Fry Readability Graph, Flesch-Kincaid Formula, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index, Dale-Chall Readability Formula, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readability Formula, McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula, FORCAST Formula, Cloze Procedure and the General Textbook Readability Checklist, to a biology textbook titled, Modern Biology. As table 2 illustrates, the Flesch-Kincaid Formula (10. 8 grade, 15. 8 years old) was the only readability method that supported the teacher’s decision to use this textbook. The Fry Readability Graph (Table 1) indicated that the textbook was at an 8th grade level (13 years old). The remaining objective methods for readability, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index refer to Table 3 (12 grade), Dale-Chall Readability Index (Table 4 -16 grade), Gunning ‘FOG’ Readability refer to Table 5 (13. 6 grade, 18. 6 years old), McLaughlin ‘SMOG’ Formula see Table 6 (13. 1 grade, 18. 1 years old), and the FORCAST Formula see Table 7 (12. grade, 17. 1 years old) indicated that the textbook reading would be too difficult for a 10th grader. In an attempt to produce a more cohesive point on the scale of readability, the averages of six tests (Fry Readability Graph, Flesch-Kincaid Formula, Dale-Chall Readability Index, Gunning ‘FOG’ Readabilty, McLaughlin Ã¢â‚¬Ë œSMOG’ Formula, and the FORCAST Formula) were found for the textbook. As illustrated in Table 10, the average grade for this text is found to be at the 12th grade. The Close Readability Procedure results also indicate that the reading level is to difficult for the 10th grade class (Table 8). According to the General Textbook Readability Checklist the textbook is strongest in its usability and weakest in its understandability (Table 9). I really am not surprised that the results indicate that the textbook is too difficult for the 10th grade student. Science textbooks are probably inherently more difficult to read because the subject matter is more complex as is the terminology. Although these tests didn’t provide the desired results, there is a lot of similarities between them and I believe that they are still good measures of the readability of textbooks. How to cite 10th Grade Biology Textbook Analysis, Essay examples