What kind of name is St-Cyr?

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First… Thank you for asking! It’s always fun for me to talk about words and language. 😊 I was recently asked this again, and I decided to capture my response for everybody because this is not the first time somebody has wondered about my name with no vowels!

Okay, the ‘sometimes y’ vowel sorta counts, but you couldn’t imagine how many telemarketers call me trying to pronounce “STCYR” from their stolen database records.

So how DO you say it?

When a French speaker says the name, it winds up sounding a bit like “sincere” in English (a little more “sain” then “sin”). In English I usually introduce myself saying it like “Saint Sear”.

This Google Translate audio is really good for it, actually. Try clicking both the English and the French audio sounds!

So let’s talk history…

It’s a French name, with a very long history. The “St” part is the shortened abbreviation for ‘Saint’, and ‘Cyr’ is the name of the saint, actually shortened from ‘Cyricus‘, who died about 1800 years ago. That led to France using the Saint Cyr name a lot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Cyr

It’s not a hugely popular name, especially my particular variation with the hyphen, but I see it pop up here and there, particularly referencing things in Canada, France, or Louisiana (hundreds of years ago a group split off and went south). My own personal family line is actually a bit of an imposter. We’ve used the name St-Cyr for a few hundred years in Canada, but my uncle did some digging into the history and it turns out we were actually a completely different family line from France who decided to switch names for some reason.

Probably to avoid authorities, is the story I like to tell. YARR! THAR BE PIRATES!

I am a little fuzzy on all the details, but ultimately it’s a very old name with French origin.

How about you?

Do you have a cool name history? Drop it in the comments, as they say!

12 responses to “What kind of name is St-Cyr?”

  1. Joanette St. Cyr Avatar
    Joanette St. Cyr

    My name is Joanette St. Cyr with a period instead of a hyphen and I’m from Louisiana.

    1. Jason St-Cyr Avatar

      Pleasure to meet you Joanette! I hear there are quite a few of the St. Cyr’s in Louisiana.

      1. Jefferson St.Cyr Avatar
        Jefferson St.Cyr

        My name is Jefferson St.Cyr maybe we are family

      2. Jason St-Cyr Avatar

        Glad to meet you Jefferson! Has any of your family come originally from France/North America or perhaps gone to North America several generations back?

    2. Brandi Bugel Avatar
      Brandi Bugel

      Hi there my maiden name is also St.Cyr and I am from Louisiana. However my great grandfather changed it from St.Cyr to Sance when my grandfather was a boy. Still don’t know why it was changed.

  2. E. St-Cyr Avatar
    E. St-Cyr

    hi im a St-Cyr and im Acadian, from the maritimes in Canada. My father’s father is french from Montreal. My entire family considers ourself as french acadiens. I don’t see much of our ancesters online, having a hard time to find information. But from the informations that you got, saying that the name pops up in Canada, France and Luisiana, it sounds alot like the “Expulsion of the Acadians”, in which hundreds of french acadiens were forced to change name, get seperated from their families and most of them went to Luisiana, France and some stayed and got assimilated to english. Theres many recerring names in acadie but I never really saw St-Cyr and if my hypothetical is correct, that we all have acadian herritage, it would be really cool to discuss that with you. And please appologize my english as it is not my first language.

    1. Jason St-Cyr Avatar

      Thank you for reaching out! My uncle did some very deep ancestry digging to track things back and found some families like the Rouillard and Deshaies a long time ago. A few years back there was a group on Facebook for St-Cyr in North America and somebody by the name Francois St-Cyr had published a book tracing back a lot of different families with the St-Cyr name back to 1624 (400 years now!) There are photos in the Facebook group of paternal lineages and it might be a good place for you to continue to find more information!

    2. Jefferson St.Cyr Avatar
      Jefferson St.Cyr

      That would be great My name is Jefferson St. Cyr I come from Haiti

  3. Paul St.Cyr Avatar
    Paul St.Cyr

    I’m a St.Cyr too the name is not huge just want to see how we are related to.

    1. Jason St-Cyr Avatar

      Thank you for reaching out! If you are in North America, I think there is a Facebook group where you can try to find other St.Cyr folks. It seems there are quite a few of us with the name!

  4. Jordan Parks Avatar
    Jordan Parks

    St. Cyr from my grandpa who confirmed we are French , Itilian and Irish .

    1. Jason St-Cyr Avatar

      Nice to meet you Jordan!

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