MONTIN INTERNATIONAL REGISTRY
INTRODUCTION
Possible origin of the Montin patronym
A. France/ Italy.
There is no certainty as to the origin of the name. It should at least be noted that the name is more common in Italy than in France, and therefore there could be a chance that all bearers of the name are descended from a single ancestor who came from Italy in olden days. It is possible that the name means "he who comes from the little mountain" (from the Latin "montinus"). Another mystery is the presence, at the limit of the départements of Lot and Cantal, of a farm called "Montin" (which was a small village in the XVIth century). As far as we know, it is the only place of the name in France. Did it belong to the first bearer of the name, or did all the first Montins come from it? Only historical research will provide an answer to the question, with some luck. There was little emigration out of France (except two military officers who settled in Sweden in the retinue of king Bernadotte (early 1800's). There was however a lot of emigration frrom Italy, to the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
B. Finland/Sweden
Finland: information provided by Jorma and Ann-Riitta (Oulu) reveals that all Finnish Montins are descended from a notary named Matti Valkiapaa (which means "white head") who lived from1630 to 1686 in Turussa and changed his name for an unknown reasons. The genealogy of this family, which includes members settled in Sweden, is well known thanks to research done by Anna-Maria Montin Tallgren ("Montin suvun esi ja alku-historia") at the end of the last century. Some of the Swedish descendants from that branch emigrated to America (Sven Rudolf, b. 1907, John Peter, 1890)There is still some work to be done to update this study.
C. Eastern Europe
The Registry has very little information on Eastern Europe, but there are indications on the Web that there are Montins in the Czech Republic and in Poland. One American branch came from Austria. We would welcome any input
Overview of world distribution of the patronym
A research done by Halbert's Family Heritage, in 1995, among lists of 225 million families, showed up 409 "households" named Montin. These are distributed between
Italy: 321
households,
France:
49.
Rest of
world: 39 in 13 countries.
This research was not complete and is now outdated. Many countries were not surveyed. Our site will try to cover more countries.
News from some of the Montin branches
Data provided by e-mail correspondents in the first 8 months of 1998 has shown that this was a very sketchy picture. Two Scandinavian countries also have a lot of Montin households, expecially Finland (see above) and Sweden.
Data provided by Leif and Emily M. Catlet shows that some of the American and Canadian Montins are of Swedish origin (and perhaps of French origin beyond).
Sven Rudolf Montin (Sweden), 4/18/1905 - 6/14/77, married to Karin Amanda Elisabeth, 12/4/07 - 9/22/71, had four children:
Sven-Bertil had the following children: Karin 12/1/57, Louise 12/30/59, Leif Ritchie 2/1/63, all living in Canada. Leif heard from SB that the name had come to Sweden from France with king Bernadotte, who had got it from a visiting Montin from Oklahoma City. This would need to be confirmed by descendants of that branch.
Leif Montin in Mission Viejo, CA have following children: Johan Montin 12/13/66 (M.V. CA), Mette Montin 12/30/68 (Santa Cruz, CA)
Kent Montin have following children: Niklas Montin 6/14/62, Camilla Montin 5/4/65, both living in Sweden
Kjell Montin have following children: Joakim Montin 2/24/67, Ove Montin 1/13/70, Martin Montin 8/8/84, all living in Sweden.
Other households have Italian ancestors (Rita Basso's (Guelf) information). Rita welcomes any info. about that branch.
We also know from Diana Dempsey that an American branch in Michigan is descended from a George Montin who emigrated from Austria in 1911 at the age of 29. Any information about "cousins" from this branch should be sent to Diana.
Emily (Sta Barbara) has researched her branch. They are descended from John Peter Montin and his wife Emily who immigrated to the US from Sweden circa 1890. They had three children: Anders (deceased 1975) father of John Barry (step father to Emily and father to Michael Anders (b. 1965), Nicole (1970) and Ashley (1988)). Parker John, aged 2, is the youngest of that branch.
For the full list of Montins outside France and Italy, see our World directory.
How can you participate in the development of the site?
If you want to appear in the future list of Montins worlwide with abridged details about yourself, please e-mail text for insertion. Any information about known ancestors, time of arrival of your family in the present country of residence, and other details of genealogical interest (family traditions, great deeds), will be most welcome.
In your response to the e-mail indicated at the bottom of this page, please list as many relatives as possible, with years and places of birth and places of abode, with an indication, where possible, of known ascent. This might reveal unexpected connections: for instance, a recent contact showed that a Montin living in Sweden knew from family tradition that he was descended from a French aide to Count Bernadotte who came to that country when he was elected king (the ancestor was the aide, not the count!).
About the author of this site…
The author, Charles Montin, born 1952 in Sydney (Australia), of a French father, who later returned to his country, was originally struck by the scarcity of his patronym in France. Family tradition had it that ancestors came from Italy. Research has not proved this, as there have been Montins in the Cantal and Lot departments of central France since the Middle Ages. Archives in the Lot have yielded an impressive amount of data that can be shared. Though living in Brussels (he is an international civil servant) Charles maintains a house (inherited from his great great grandfather) in the little village of Carennac (Lot) where cousins are welcome to visit.
You are welcome to visit Charles's personal page.