Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Apparently most if not all Labats originate from a particular region in southwest France that today is called Hautes Pyrenees. It was called Bigorre prior to the French Revolution. The most famous town in this region is Lourdes. I've seen pictures; it's a beautiful, mountainous area that looks similar to the Swiss Alps.
I always wondered what my name meant. I took French in school and know, obviously, that "la" means "the", but "bat" isn't in any French dictionary. Recently someone from France told me that "bat" means "valley" in the old Bigorre dialect. The ending "t" is unusually enunciated, so in France you will see the spelling "Labatt" sometimes, though "Labat" is far more common.
I did surname searches and saw an obvious concentration of Labats in southwest France.
Actually, my surname was originally Dabat, but this name seems to be very closely related to Labat. It is found in the same area of France in the same concentration, and the entomology is probably similar. My family has been traced to Bagneres de Bigorre, which is close to Lourdes.
Also, there's a good chance we have Basque genes. This region is in the heart of French Basque territory.
Followups:
|
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/labatt/messages/28.html | ||
 |
Agreement of Use Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|