If you have a "de" in your last name, does that mean you come from aristocracy?

Question

For people from France, Belgium and other European countries

Answer 1

in spain ( i don't know if in other places happen it) when a woman married a noble man, she had his surname:

Maria Sanchéz marry Pedro Moncada= María Sánchez de Moncada.

In England the nobility had the surnames for the places that they domined:

William, duke of Wessex= William of Wessex

Answer 2

Well I have the name "Mandelson", which (obviously) has the 'de' to which you refer. I don't come from Aristocracy, I was born in London.

Answer 3

Not nescessarily. The de usually just means "of".  Sort of like leonardo da vinci, meaning leonard of vinci (the city)

Answer 4

de means "of"

Marietta de Castille

means Mary of Castille

deLeon means of LEON- (Leon is a place- and could have been de Lyon)- of Lyon, France)

Many aristocrats took on the name of their castles.

And many commoners took on the name of the towns where they lived.

de = of (Romance languages)

O' = son of (Gaelic)

Uá = daughter of (Gaelic)

Mc /Mac= grandson or clan of (Gaelic)

ap = son of (Welch Gaelic) Appin was probably ap Pin

le = of (French)

dit = "called" (an alias)

Answer 5

Many aristocrats have the article "de" which stands for "of" in their names,but non aristocrats who immigrated to other countries also can have a "de" in ther names as well. My family is from an aristocratic background;the branch that inherited the title and still lives in France use the article "de" in their names,while we do not.

Answer 6

Nope... 'de' means 'of', in France.

However, there are some aristocrats who have 'de' in their surname...but that is irrelevant to whether it shows aristocracy.

Answer 7

It is possible, but unlikely.  Surnames as we know them weren't common in Europe until the 16th or 17th century. Some of the time, the people who left Europe were peasants or other commoners who took the name of the noble whose land they lived on (or the town they lived in).  Much like the freed slaves of America took the surnames of their previous owner.  The other answers posted are also excellent examples of the practice.  You could always ask your relatives; people of noble birth often have hereditary charts showing lineage to a noble.

Answer 8

no it just means "of."