[Taxacom] proper use of "de" in a French name

[Laurent Raty]

Mike,

Starting a sentence without a capital letter is definitely *not*
normally an option, even ;-) in French.

You can try http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particule_(onomastique) if you
want general guidance about the formal use of such names in French.

"Bonvouloir's specimens" should theoretically be the best choice if you
want to start your sentence that way: omitting the "de" is the general
rule if the name stands alone (i.e., is not preceded by a first name
[Victor de Bonvouloir], another patronym [Achard de Bonvouloir], or a
title [vicomte de Bonvouloir, monsieur de Bonvouloir]).
There are exceptions, though; most notably, with very short names (not
more than one non-mute syllabe), the "de" would normally be retained; a
"du", "des" or "d'" would usually also be retained.


(Now, I think I would qualify as an "actual Francophone", but I'm not
an actual French. Here in Belgium, we are in a slightly peculiar
situation, because we are facing a mixture of many Flemish surnames
starting with the Dutch article "De" [often followed by a profession or
quality, like in "De Smet" - literally "The Smith" -, or "De Wit" - "The
White"], with actually much less numerous French surnames starting with
the French preposition "de" [not that exceptionally followed by a
Flemish locality name]. This makes things a bit confused at times and,
perhaps as a result, we often tend to retain any "de"/"De" whatever its
meaning. So my ears would in fact not really be offended by a sentence
starting with "De Bonvouloir's specimens" either...)


Hope this helps,
Laurent -



Michael A. Ivie wrote:
> Not my question, which was "how would a Francophone do it", with a 
> request that it be answered by an actual Francophone.  I know well 
> how the Anglophones would mangle it.
> 
> Mike
> 
> Edwards, G.B. wrote:
> 
>> But when starting a sentence in English (Mike's question), the 
>> first word is always capitalized, as far as I can recall, even a 
>> normally uncapitalized article in a foreign language.  A perhaps 
>> more interesting and applicable question regards the subsequent 
>> geneology of the Vicomte in question:  Did his descendants adopt 
>> Bonvouloir, de Bonvouloir, or (not inconceivably) Henry as the 
>> surname.  I would argue that whichever of these is subsequently 
>> correct (if there was only one) would be the name to be cited.  As 
>> Mike noted, Vicomte de Bonvouloir is a title, not a surname.