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.
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Number of households bearing this name
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more than 100
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from 20 to 50
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from 50 to 100
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less than 20
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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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