About Our Name "Saucier"
The Saucier family is one of the oldest and largest families of French heritage in the United States and North America. Our paternal ancestor Jean Baptiste Saucier, a French Canadian, arrived in the early French Colony with d'Iberville in 1699, over 75 years before this nation was founded. Our paternal ancestor, a pioneer of the new world, settled in the Louisiana Colony on what is now the present-day U.S. Gulf Coast over 315 years ago; settling first in the original Biloxi settlement, then moving to the colonial Mobile settlement when the garrison was moved to the newly built Fort Louis. The Saucier's were one of the oldest pioneer families of colonial Louisiana and later in its new capital of New Orleans after our widowed family matriarch moved there with her sons in 1721 from Mobile.
There have been numerous spellings of the Saucier surname over the years, Soucier, Soucia, Saussier, Socia, So-see, Sossie, Saussaye, Sauce, Saucie, etc. These are all the same family with just different spelling. Each traces their ancestry back to Louis Saucier of Quebec, Canada and his parents Charles Saucier and Charlotte Clairet of Paris, France. In the early colony of the 1700's our surname was generally spelled "Saucie" without the "r".
It isn't that unusual for different members of the same ancestral line to spell their surname differently. You sometimes see it when different branches of our Saucier family settled in different areas of the country. The people making the records, such as censuses, often spelled the family surname the way they heard it pronounced and not the way the person would spell it. You might also find different spellings in old family bibles or church records made before literacy was common and because the person who entered the data simply wrote the name as it sounded to them.
The Saucier name is also pronounced in several variations. In France, where our family originated, our name is generally pronounced as “So-see-aye”. In Canada, the state of Louisiana, and other parts of the nation, especially in the New England states, our surname is normally pronounced as “So-shay” and sometimes pronounced as "So-see-aye". Numerous relatives and family members for many years have used the pronunciation of “So-sure”, a common pronunciation along the Gulf Coast, but actually “So-shay” is the correct American pronunciation of our French surname. Over a period of time many local family members have accepted the "So-sure" pronunciation instead of trying to correct its pronunciation by others, and many now use it themselves. This came about due to the difficulty of those moving here from other areas of the country, military, etc., in pronouncing the French surnames of the Gulf Coast, an area of heavy French heritage. Local French surnames such as Gautier, Saucier, Dedeaux and Nicaise, they found hard to pronounce, which led to the current pronouncement of So-sure and different pronunciations of other local French surnames.
During the years that I was growing up, many members of the older generation would set you straight, very quickly, on the proper pronunciation of "So-shay" as our family surname. I remember being told, or, I should say lectured, many times as a teenager by our family historian Blanche Saucier, who was also my English teacher, saying, your name is "So-shay", "it's a very old French name, be proud of your name". "You come from a very old and proud French family; do not let them call you "So-sure", "correct them!" I always knew that if she heard me answer to "So-sure" that I was in for a good lecture on the proper pronunciation of our name, and it never failed to happen! She seemed to always hear! Blanche Saucier, my friend, schoolteacher and family member by marriage, was the wife of Earl Nolan Saucier, a grandson of Samuel Bernard Saucier who founded the town bearing our family surname. Blanche would never allow anyone to call her anything but "Mrs. So-shay". Her "wrath" on the subject of "So-sure" was well known! Every student knew better than to use the wrong pronunciation of our name when addressing her. If a student or visitor would address her as "So-sure", her students would hold their breath, waiting for the correction to come, and quickly it did, she would not hesitate in the least to correct anyone, student or visitor alike. That wrong pronouncement was a "mistake" a student would only make once! Our last visit was in the office of the store I managed in downtown Gulfport; she had stopped by to get additional information on my children for the family genealogy she was updating. I'll always remember her admonishing and lecturing me in front of the English class on the proper pronunciation of "So-shay" on so many occasions during all four years of high school.
Even after all these years, I am reminded of her and can still visualize her standing there at the front of the classroom, glasses lifted above her fore head, grey hair pulled back, shaking her finger at me in class, those many years ago, every time I hear someone say "So-sure" instead of "So-shay". In my subconscious I can hear her say, "Wayne, correct them"!! The majority of today’s generation have never heard or been taught the correct pronouncement of "Saucier" and do not know its proper pronunciation or how it was pronounced in the past as they have only heard it as "So-sure". They tend to always argue that "So-sure" is the correct pronunciation, which occurred in a discussion dealing with its pronunciation on social media in the very recent past.
Surprisingly, some of those involved in the discussion were quite adamant that they were correct in its pronouncement as "So-sure" and replied that we whose last name is "Saucier" were wrong. I can't help but wonder how they would have fared with Blanche on the subject of the pronouncement of our family surname. I can see the fire in her eyes and hear the fireworks coming from Blanche! I assure you; she would not have hesitated in setting them straight on the correct pronouncement of our surname! She would have told them flat out and in no uncertain terms that they were wrong, and it's pronounced as "So-Shay" and not as "So-sure"! as I had heard her do on numerous occasions.
During this writers' travels on the east coast, especially in Connecticut and Maine, where many of our Canadian ancestor Charles Saucier's (brother of Jean Baptiste) descendants have immigrated to and settled at, I have found that they generally use the pronouncement of "So-shay" for our surname. I usually find when asked on the east coast by a restaurant hostess what my last name is and if I replied as "So-sure", they always ask me to spell it. After which I would get a reply from the hostess of "oh, Mr. So-shay".
It's always a surprise and a joy to hear someone address me with the correct pronunciation of our surname. And surprisingly a number do so. Over my 80 plus years I've answered to many variations of our surname and have had a good chuckle at some of those variations, especially by telemarketers. Those unfamiliar with our surname always started with err, err, and followed by a hesitation when trying to pronounce our name, then followed by the wrong pronunciation or sometimes a request on how to pronounce it, but many just say is this Mr. "Saucer" (like the dish). This happened often when I served in the U.S. Army during the 1960's. Personally, I prefer the French pronunciation of "So-see-aye" or the French American pronunciation of "So-shay" for our name. Sadly, the pronunciations of "So-see-aye" and of "So-shay" will no longer be remembered after the present older generation passes on; only "So-sure" will be remembered and used by the younger generations as that is the one, they grew up with and only one they know, which is so sad. After all, as Blanche would always say, "our name is a very old respected French surname" and we should be proud of it and try to retain its proper pronunciation.
Over many years I have constantly been asked the question of "are we related to" various Sauciers, and I have always given their relationship to the person they are asking about. Anyone that carries the name of Saucier are definitely distant cousins in both Canada and the United States as we all descend from two Saucier brothers.
The French meaning of Saucier, according to many sources, is sauce maker or lead chef. Saucier is also the name of pans used for cooking, commonly referred to as chef’s pans, used for making sauces. Some researchers believe that our early Saucier ancestors were spice and sauce makers in France, and this is the reason the name Saucier became identified as the family’s surname. Yet, numerous other researchers say the Saucier family were prominent and respected merchants of the old city of Orleans in France, which is probable, and the family business could easily have been one that was involved in the making and selling of spices and sauces in early France. For now, I'll leave the origins of our surname for future generations to further research and to decide its meaning and origin.
Our paternal ancestor Jean Baptiste Saucier of Colonial Mobile is listed in the “Order of the First Families of Mississippi” which honors the pioneers and first settlers of Mississippi before it became a state. Members of the Saucier family that are descended from Jean Baptiste are eligible to join the group.
There have been numerous spellings of the Saucier surname over the years, Soucier, Soucia, Saussier, Socia, So-see, Sossie, Saussaye, Sauce, Saucie, etc. These are all the same family with just different spelling. Each traces their ancestry back to Louis Saucier of Quebec, Canada and his parents Charles Saucier and Charlotte Clairet of Paris, France. In the early colony of the 1700's our surname was generally spelled "Saucie" without the "r".
It isn't that unusual for different members of the same ancestral line to spell their surname differently. You sometimes see it when different branches of our Saucier family settled in different areas of the country. The people making the records, such as censuses, often spelled the family surname the way they heard it pronounced and not the way the person would spell it. You might also find different spellings in old family bibles or church records made before literacy was common and because the person who entered the data simply wrote the name as it sounded to them.
The Saucier name is also pronounced in several variations. In France, where our family originated, our name is generally pronounced as “So-see-aye”. In Canada, the state of Louisiana, and other parts of the nation, especially in the New England states, our surname is normally pronounced as “So-shay” and sometimes pronounced as "So-see-aye". Numerous relatives and family members for many years have used the pronunciation of “So-sure”, a common pronunciation along the Gulf Coast, but actually “So-shay” is the correct American pronunciation of our French surname. Over a period of time many local family members have accepted the "So-sure" pronunciation instead of trying to correct its pronunciation by others, and many now use it themselves. This came about due to the difficulty of those moving here from other areas of the country, military, etc., in pronouncing the French surnames of the Gulf Coast, an area of heavy French heritage. Local French surnames such as Gautier, Saucier, Dedeaux and Nicaise, they found hard to pronounce, which led to the current pronouncement of So-sure and different pronunciations of other local French surnames.
During the years that I was growing up, many members of the older generation would set you straight, very quickly, on the proper pronunciation of "So-shay" as our family surname. I remember being told, or, I should say lectured, many times as a teenager by our family historian Blanche Saucier, who was also my English teacher, saying, your name is "So-shay", "it's a very old French name, be proud of your name". "You come from a very old and proud French family; do not let them call you "So-sure", "correct them!" I always knew that if she heard me answer to "So-sure" that I was in for a good lecture on the proper pronunciation of our name, and it never failed to happen! She seemed to always hear! Blanche Saucier, my friend, schoolteacher and family member by marriage, was the wife of Earl Nolan Saucier, a grandson of Samuel Bernard Saucier who founded the town bearing our family surname. Blanche would never allow anyone to call her anything but "Mrs. So-shay". Her "wrath" on the subject of "So-sure" was well known! Every student knew better than to use the wrong pronunciation of our name when addressing her. If a student or visitor would address her as "So-sure", her students would hold their breath, waiting for the correction to come, and quickly it did, she would not hesitate in the least to correct anyone, student or visitor alike. That wrong pronouncement was a "mistake" a student would only make once! Our last visit was in the office of the store I managed in downtown Gulfport; she had stopped by to get additional information on my children for the family genealogy she was updating. I'll always remember her admonishing and lecturing me in front of the English class on the proper pronunciation of "So-shay" on so many occasions during all four years of high school.
Even after all these years, I am reminded of her and can still visualize her standing there at the front of the classroom, glasses lifted above her fore head, grey hair pulled back, shaking her finger at me in class, those many years ago, every time I hear someone say "So-sure" instead of "So-shay". In my subconscious I can hear her say, "Wayne, correct them"!! The majority of today’s generation have never heard or been taught the correct pronouncement of "Saucier" and do not know its proper pronunciation or how it was pronounced in the past as they have only heard it as "So-sure". They tend to always argue that "So-sure" is the correct pronunciation, which occurred in a discussion dealing with its pronunciation on social media in the very recent past.
Surprisingly, some of those involved in the discussion were quite adamant that they were correct in its pronouncement as "So-sure" and replied that we whose last name is "Saucier" were wrong. I can't help but wonder how they would have fared with Blanche on the subject of the pronouncement of our family surname. I can see the fire in her eyes and hear the fireworks coming from Blanche! I assure you; she would not have hesitated in setting them straight on the correct pronouncement of our surname! She would have told them flat out and in no uncertain terms that they were wrong, and it's pronounced as "So-Shay" and not as "So-sure"! as I had heard her do on numerous occasions.
During this writers' travels on the east coast, especially in Connecticut and Maine, where many of our Canadian ancestor Charles Saucier's (brother of Jean Baptiste) descendants have immigrated to and settled at, I have found that they generally use the pronouncement of "So-shay" for our surname. I usually find when asked on the east coast by a restaurant hostess what my last name is and if I replied as "So-sure", they always ask me to spell it. After which I would get a reply from the hostess of "oh, Mr. So-shay".
It's always a surprise and a joy to hear someone address me with the correct pronunciation of our surname. And surprisingly a number do so. Over my 80 plus years I've answered to many variations of our surname and have had a good chuckle at some of those variations, especially by telemarketers. Those unfamiliar with our surname always started with err, err, and followed by a hesitation when trying to pronounce our name, then followed by the wrong pronunciation or sometimes a request on how to pronounce it, but many just say is this Mr. "Saucer" (like the dish). This happened often when I served in the U.S. Army during the 1960's. Personally, I prefer the French pronunciation of "So-see-aye" or the French American pronunciation of "So-shay" for our name. Sadly, the pronunciations of "So-see-aye" and of "So-shay" will no longer be remembered after the present older generation passes on; only "So-sure" will be remembered and used by the younger generations as that is the one, they grew up with and only one they know, which is so sad. After all, as Blanche would always say, "our name is a very old respected French surname" and we should be proud of it and try to retain its proper pronunciation.
Over many years I have constantly been asked the question of "are we related to" various Sauciers, and I have always given their relationship to the person they are asking about. Anyone that carries the name of Saucier are definitely distant cousins in both Canada and the United States as we all descend from two Saucier brothers.
The French meaning of Saucier, according to many sources, is sauce maker or lead chef. Saucier is also the name of pans used for cooking, commonly referred to as chef’s pans, used for making sauces. Some researchers believe that our early Saucier ancestors were spice and sauce makers in France, and this is the reason the name Saucier became identified as the family’s surname. Yet, numerous other researchers say the Saucier family were prominent and respected merchants of the old city of Orleans in France, which is probable, and the family business could easily have been one that was involved in the making and selling of spices and sauces in early France. For now, I'll leave the origins of our surname for future generations to further research and to decide its meaning and origin.
Our paternal ancestor Jean Baptiste Saucier of Colonial Mobile is listed in the “Order of the First Families of Mississippi” which honors the pioneers and first settlers of Mississippi before it became a state. Members of the Saucier family that are descended from Jean Baptiste are eligible to join the group.
En tant qu'auteur de la Généalogie Saucier, je vous souhaite beaucoup de succès dans la recherche de votre patrimoine familial.
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