If you as grew up, as I did, in the
US you might have wondered if anyone else
had the last name or surname Girouard, and
spelled it that way. That is unless you lived
in Louisiana, even growing up in New England
I would not find many people that had the
last name or surname of Girouard. I know
that myself and others have gone to the phone
books when visiting another state or city
and look up Girouard to see if anyone shared
the same surname. Well I bet you didn't know
that:
Southeast of Montreal off the Canadian Highway
is a city called St. Hyacinthe. There are over
250 families with the surname Girouard that live in this city. There
is also an exit off the highway for Girouard Ave,
which has both St. churches.
Also in St Hyacinthe is there is a Girouard University, which is also on Girouard Ave.
There are over 6 Streets, Avenues, Roads
& etc., in different areas of Montreal
that have the Girouard name.
There was a Printer (Imprimeur) to King Louis XIV that was a Girouard in the 18th century, Jacques Girouard. He is listed as one
of the 2,700 people put to death by the Guillotine
after the French Revolution of 1793. His
name is listed on the plaque on the wall
at the Conciergerie. The picture on the right
is a part of the plaque showing his name
amongst some of the others killed. The Conciergerie
is the building that housed the prisoners,
including Marie-Antoinette while they awaited their
death.
There are thousands of Girouard families or telephone listings in the US and Canada
that have the surname spelled "Girouard".
There are also hundreads of families or telephone
listings with the surname "Gerrior or
Girrior", which, I feel, are the English derivative
of Girouard, which make sense if you only
spoke English and someone came up to you
and pronounced "Girouard" in French
and asked you to spell it.