Loire Valley Online

History of Family Names
by Marie-Odile Mergnac

Extract from the book
"Histoire des noms de famille" (Story of family names)


The Deniaus



The origins of the name
The family name Deniau is a common name in the regions of Blois and Tours. It is a derivation of the baptismal name Daniel, which means "God judges". There are about 5320 people with this name in France today.


The Deniaus in the Loire Valley
There are 1670 Deniaus, or more than 31 % of the bearers of this name, in this region. The French department having the greatest number is Loir-et-Cher (187 families), followed by Indre-et-Loire (126), Maine-et-Loire (101), Vienne (22), Deux-Sèvres (17), Cher (15) and Indre (9).
 

Brothers in politics
Originally from the area of Blois, Jean-François Deniau was Minister of Foreign Commerce three times from 1978 to 1981. Afterwards, he was "Ministre Délégué" responsible for administrative reform. Several times an elected official for the Cher region, he has been President of the Department Council. The author of numerous books, he was elected to the "Académie Française" in 1992.
His brother, Xavier Deniau, has worked considerably on an international level (Administrator of colonies, UN, NATO...).  He was elected several times as "Député" of the Loiret region, he was Vice-President of the Regional Council of the Centre region from 1974 to 1986, and he was the Minister responsible for overseas departments and territories.
 

And their family?
These two brothers in politics are originally from the town of Huisson-sur-Cosson, near Chambord, where the oldest found ancestor, Sylvain Deniau, lived. Generations of farmers and wine producers succeeded each other there up until Auguste Deniau, born in 1838, who left not only the trade of his ancestors but the region as well and became a shop assistant in Paris. 


Number of households bearing this name

more than 100

from 20 to 50

from 50 to 100

less than 20




Engineer of  the "Ponts-et-Chaussées"
His son, Marcel-Auguste Deniau, was born on March 17, 1890 in Paris, became the chief engineer of the "Ponts-et-Chaussées", knight of the Legion of Honor and received the military award of the "Croix de guerre". On June 7, 1921 in Versailles, he married Marie-Berthe-Elisabeth-Josèphe Loth, who was born in Australia. They are the parents of two brothers noted above, Xavier and Jean-François.
 

Other Deniaus in history
Eugène Deniau (1834-1893), born in the Loir-et-Cher, region, was a marketer and wine producer, mayor of his town, member of the "Conseil Général" as of 1871 and "Député" as of 1879. He fought against Boulingism and proposed reformation of the tax on beverages.
Yves Deniau (1901-1959) was a manufacturer, a street vendor and then an actor who recorded numerous records and appeared in many plays and films, one of which is "The Count of Monte Cristo"...

 

 


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