Between 1840 and 1930, roughly 900,000 French Canadians left Quebec for New England mill towns. Over three or four generations, their surnames were anglicized beyond recognition. If your family has roots in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine, there is a real chance your last name was originally French, and that you are already a Canadian citizen under Bill C-3.
The Name Changed, the Citizenship Didn't
When French-Canadian families settled in American mill towns, their names were anglicized by employers, school administrators, and town clerks who could not spell or pronounce French. Sometimes the family chose to change it. Sometimes it was done for them.
The result: millions of Americans carry anglicized surnames and have no idea their family came from Quebec. But the name change does not affect citizenship. If your ancestor was born in Canada, you may qualify for citizenship by descent regardless of what your surname looks like today.
The Anglicized Names Reference List
Here are documented English surnames and their original French-Canadian forms. If any of these appear in your family tree, you likely have Quebec ancestry worth investigating:
A-D - **Allen** = Allain - **Baker** = Boulanger - **Bellows** = Belard - **Bishops** = Levesque - **Breard** = Brillard - **Brooks** = Rousseau - **Brown** = Lebrun - **Bujold** = Bugeault - **Bulger** = Maheu - **Bush** = Bussiere - **Bushey** = Boucher - **Butler** = Breton - **Carey** = Busse - **Clair** = Leclair - **Clukey** = Cloutier - **Conlogue** = Coulombe - **Coro** = Caron - **Dubay** = Dube - **Dyer** = Doyon
F-K - **Fisher** = Poisson/Poissonnier - **Foster** = Fortin - **Gero** = Giroux - **Goodno** = Gagnon - **Gurney** = Gagne - **Hart** = Jolicoeur - **Hunter** = Chasse - **Jobber** = Jobin - **Joler** = Jolin - **Jenness** = Quirion - **King** = Roy
L-P - **Lagassey** = Lagace - **Laliberty** = Laliberte - **Laney** = Laliberte - **Libby** = Labbe - **Marlborough** = Lariviere - **Marshall** = Mercier - **Mayo** = Maheu - **Moen** = Faucher - **Murray** = Morin - **Pelkey** = Pelletier - **Perry** = Poirier - **Peters** = Pitre / Petrie - **Pommerlo** = Pomerleau - **Pooler** = Poulin
R-Y - **Rainey** = Rene - **Rattez** = Ratte - **St. Peters** = St. Pierre - **Sandy** = Saindon - **Shorty** = Chatigny - **Simpson** = Sansouci / Bureau - **Vigue** = Veilleux - **Ware** = Roy - **Wedge** = Aucoin - **White** = Leblanc - **Willett** = Ouellette - **York** = Jacques
This is not a complete list. Hundreds of other names were anglicized in ways that are less obvious. If your family has New England roots and the surname does not appear here, it is still worth checking census records for a French-speaking ancestor.
How to Confirm Your Connection
- . Check the 1900 and 1910 US Census. These censuses asked for parents' birthplace and immigration year. If a parent or grandparent listed "Canada" or "Quebec," you have a direct lead.
2. Search for the French spelling. If your name is on the list above, search FamilySearch.org and the Drouin Collection for the original French version in Quebec parish records.
3. Look at Catholic church records. Franco-Americans were overwhelmingly Catholic. Their US parish often kept records in French and noted the Quebec parish of origin.
4. Check your eligibility. If you can trace a direct line (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, or further back) to someone born in Quebec, you likely qualify under Bill C-3. MaplePass can check your eligibility in under 2 minutes.
Name Discrepancies on Your Application
A common concern from applicants: "My grandmother's birth certificate says Tremblay, but my father's birth certificate lists the mother as Johnson. Will IRCC reject this?"
No, but you need to connect the dots. Include a marriage certificate showing the name change from Tremblay to Johnson. IRCC expects name discrepancies in multi-generational applications. The marriage certificate is the bridge document. If you cannot find the marriage certificate, a statutory declaration explaining the name change can serve as a substitute, though it is weaker evidence.
The application costs just $75 CAD. The hardest part is tracing the ancestry and gathering documents, not filling out the form.