Le Seelleur name origins

Four explanations

In our research we have come across two possible meanings of the Le Seelleur name and four suggested explanations.^[1]

Saddler

• The first is from the word selle. The Collins Robert French-English Dictionary defines selle as a a 'saddle' and a sellier as a 'saddler'

Sealer

• The second suggestion coming from the French word sceau may be the most widely accepted explanation. The dictionary defines sceau as 'a seal, stamp, mark'. It may also be used in the context of 'to put one's seal on', 'to affix one's seal to', 'under the seal of secrecy'.

Detailed explanations

• In her article Le Seelleur du Villot Jean Arthur provides a similar, more detailed explanation.:

"Le Scelleur, Le Seelleur, Le Seleur, Le Celleur or even ‘le ces les’ is a surname belonging to the group of medieval surnames which identified a man according to his trade or occupation. This particular name means 'he who seals or applies the seal'.

"Seals are of various kinds, not all of which are likely to have given rise to an occupational surname. There was the seal of authenticity applied to both ecclesiastical and lay documents. In the days when the dignitary whose name appeared at the foot of a document might not be able to sign his name, his seal was applied instead.

"An old French dictionary gives as one of the possible meanings of sceau: Anciennement, marque de fabrique. Les draps du sceau de Rouen. A man who was responsible for checking a product, be it cloth or any other commodity for which standards of excellence were laid down by groups of medieval craftsmen, could easily have been known as le scelleur.

"This would have distinguished him from contemporaries who bore the same Christian name. He would have taught his special skills, which probably provided him with a better than average income, to his sons and grandsons, so that, within a few generations, the surname became firmly fixed."

• Nicol Le Seelleur did a fair amount of research into his family history. In a 1985 letter he revealed a fourth version:

"The word 'seel' became part of the English language after the influx of Norsemen to England (1066 AD) There was then a need for officials known as 'seel-leurs', or 'custodians of the seel'. This spelling lasted until about 1700. By 1750 the accepted spelling had become 'seal'. If you look in a Portuguese-English dictionary you will find the Portuguese common noun Seelleur, meaning 'custodian of the seal'. When attempting to determine the origin of the word 'seel' remember that the Norsemen hit the coast of Portugal on their way to overrun Sicily and southern Italy. Also the English Knights on their way to the early Crusades stayed long enough to help the Portuguese attain their independence"

Variations

The book suggests that Le Scelleur was likely to have been the original spelling, and that Le Seelleur became the more common spelling over the centuries.^[2]

Many variants have been identified in census returns; birth, death and marriage certificates; newspapers; family documents; school records; cemetery records and headstones. It should be noted that many of those in the following list do not relate to Jersey records ^[3]:

• Le ces les
• Le Scelleur
• Le Sceleur
• Le Sceller
• Le Seelleur
• Le Sceeleur
• Le Celleur
• Le Celia
• Le Seelcar
• Le Seelleur
• Le Seellour
• Le Selleur
• Le Seulleur
• Le Sceleur
• Le Seleur
• Leseelleur
• Les Seeleur
• Les Selleur
• Les Scelleur
• Le Seilleur
• Le Selleul
• Le Sellier
• Le Seccleur
• Le Selour
• Le Sulleur
• Le Skelleur
• Le Sailleir
• Le Selleurs
• Le Sielleur
• Le Sceilleur
• Le Seilleri
• Le Secelleur
• Le Seclleur
• Le Seclleur

Notes and references

1. ↑ The book's author ignores the alternative origin suggested by George Balleine, the respected authority on Jersey history and the origin of the island's family names. He suggested that le seeleur is old French for the leaper and that the original bearers of the name may have been athletes, but more probably professional tumblers. There is yet another potential derivation. The names are not known in Normandy, but Scelles, Selles, Seelles are found there as family names. Their origin is suggested to be the old French scelle, meaning 'cell', and to indicate somebody who lived in a cell, a small room or house, or a dependence of a monastery. Whatever the ultimate derivation, it is more likely that the Jersey family originated in Brittany, where the spelling Le Sciellour is found, and is accepted as being derived from a spelling variant of sceau meaning 'seal'. References below to the development of the word in England seem to us to be irrelevant, because the existence of the name in Jersey family records predates these references - Editor
2. ↑ This is not born out by Jersey church records, which use both spellings, and others, from the first appearance of the name towards the end of the 16th century. Certainly Le Seelleur became the more common spelling and would appear to be the only one in use today.
3. ↑ Variations shown in the Le Seelleur book involving the use or otherwise of capital letters have been ignored here, as have spellings which appear to have no similarity. It can be imagined that many of these variations were simply spelling errors