Can any one tell me where the surname Le-Moignan come from and what it means?

Question:

Can any one tell me where the surname Le-Moignan come from and what it means?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: If you do a search for this name in the 1881 Census, you will find every one with this name originates in Jersey in the Channel Islands. There are 92 of them . And one lady born in Normandy - an Anastase Adelaide LE MOIGNAN, born in Normandy in 1834, a widowed fishmonger. The oldest seems to be a Jane LE MOIGNAN, a widow born in Jersey in 1813 and Amice LE MOIGNAN, a widowed farmer born in Jersey in 1808 aged 73.

If you do a search on the IGI (International Genealogical Index - link below) you will find the 1881 census entries as well as the International Genealogical Index / Continental Europe entries. (click where it says 'Matches: International Genealogical Index/Continental Europe - over 18' for the complete list of French records (over 400) mainly Le Moign or Le Moigne, but a few Le Moignan which seem to be from the Cote du Nord area and are quite early (17th century).

Have tried the word Le moignan or Le moigne in a couple of French-English translators but they have come up blank. The closest I could come to a translatable version was Le Moignon which means stump or stub. Did a search in Ancestry.com and found it spelt this way in the 1841 Census for Jersey. If you would like me to do any lookups in Ancestry let me know.

If the original is Le Moignon it could originate from someone that lost an arm or leg in an early battle and came home and got called the early french version of stumpy - only speculating, but not beyond the bounds of impossibility, especially if it was at a time when surnames were in their early stages of development.

Hope this is helpful