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LeBlanc.ca
Welcome

Compendium of
LeBlanc
Coat of Arms,
crests, emblems, symbols, devices, Origins

International
Heraldry

Google LeBlanc
Coat of Arms

Canadian Heraldic Authority

A complete guide to HERALDRY

The concept of a "coat of arms" is associated with heraldry, a system of visual symbols and designs used to identify individuals or families. It's important to note that not every surname has an associated coat of arms, and the use of coats of arms is more common among European nobility and aristocracy. Additionally, the concept of a coat of arms is often tied to specific individuals rather than the surname as a whole.

There are many different coat of arms associated with individuals for the surname LeBlanc. The design would have been granted or adopted by a specific individual or family at some point in history. Without specific details about which LeBlanc family or individual is being referred to, it's challenging to describe a precise coat of arms.

A google search of the LeBlanc coat of arms will reveal many different and confusing variations of shield, supporters, devices and colours; most typically found on web sites that make a profit from selling attractive framed images of a coat of arms or crest device with perhaps a vague history of the surname. Some of the information may very well be legitimate while others appear to develop a "history for profit" and sell it whether it is real or not. This web page started out as an information source but ended up being a commercial for these web sites that "create" a coat of arms for the masses. Sorry about that but these things are very popular and affordable, and they constitute all there is these days for coat of arms information.

For the LeBlanc chapter, there appear to be two distinct designs that emerge from the melee.The more predominate is a shield with some type of bird, a chevron and three devices. The other less common design is a lion on a shield. As for colours, blue and gold appear to be a consistent theme.

In Canada, there exists a "Canadian Heraldic Authority", where if you are deemed acceptable byway of volunteering and community involvement, and you can afford the exorbitant fees, you could have your own official Coat of arms, flag or crest created for you. According to this Heraldic Authority there is no concept of a family coat of arms, being issued only to individuals and their descendants.

The Meaning / Origin FOR the Surname
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LeBlanc

"LeBlanc" is a French surname that translates to "the white" in English. In French, "le" means "the," and "blanc" means "white." Surnames often have historical, occupational, or descriptive origins, and "LeBlanc" likely originated as a descriptive term for someone with fair or light-colored hair, skin, or clothing. It's important to note that the meanings of surnames can vary, and in some cases, they might have evolved or changed over time. Additionally, the interpretation of surnames may depend on regional variations and linguistic nuances.

The reference book, “A Dictionary of English Surnames” by W. Browne, ‎P. Reaney and R. Wilson ISBN 0-203-99355 reports a myriad of variations of Blanc, Blanck, Blank, Blanche most referring to someone being of fair or pale complexion or having blond or white hair, even a Blancardus in the year 1086. It is interesting to note that these names from so long ago appear to derive from the French language.

White, a simple enough reference to any number of characteristics that may have described the first LeBlanc's.

The LeBlanc family may have been a sickly lot and presented with pale complexions, perhaps their house was painted white or maybe they were the only people who owned a white horse in the village. More than likely, it was the simply the colour of their hair.

In 1847, the famous poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, described Rene LeBlanc, a Notary Public immortalized in his poem "Evangeline" as having, "Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the maize".

Rene had light coloured hair to start with and if he was anything like me, as he got older his hair would have quickly turned gray/silver. The actor Matt LeBlanc apparently had to die his hair during the making of the Friends sitcom because he too was going gray early in his life. I started to develop gray hair in my twenties and now my hair appears to be completely white. If I grow my beard out these days, I might even pass for Santa Claus on a good day - minus the jolly disposition of course. This theory, the white hair theory, is why I believe our family is called LeBlanc.

There is also a small town in France named Le Blanc, located about 250 Kms south west of Paris. Although most LeBlanc origin theories suggest that Daniel was from Martaizé, France, that town is only about 80 Kms west of the village of Le Blanc. Perhaps our ancestors moved to Martaizé and were called the family from Le Blanc. Stranger things have happened.

All of these theories are of course speculative in nature. No one really knows for sure. It would be wonderful to find an ancient obscure text somewhere that documents why my name is LeBlanc, but I find that it is just as fun to speculate.

The spelling of the surname Leblanc has many variations, I never get upset if someone pronouces or spells my name incorrectly. Sometimes there is a capital B, sometimes not. Sometimes there is a space between the e & b, sometimes not. Some pronouce it lablank and I even have fun sometimes and answer the phone, "L.E. Blank". Life is too short to get upset about something like that.

I don't think that any LeBlanc family derives from the nobility, for if they did, you would have known already. There is one internet company that hints that the LeBlanc family was of noble heritage but I daresay that it is geared towards making a dollar, beware!

This design was the very first LeBlanc family crest that I saw associated with the name. It was on a wooden plaque mounted to a wall somewhere in Nova Scotia, I don’t remember where. I liked it immediately and adopted it as my own. Being naive I thought at the time that there was only one design for the entire LeBlanc clan. I don't know the laws governing family crests and I don't know if you can even adopt a family crest but after reviewing what's available on the internet, I don't see that there are any hard and fast restrictions.

Symbolism: The prominate eagle, with its wings spread is said to be "displayed" and denotes protection; the crown on the bird appears to be of a recent French Duke/Viscount rank; gold (or), a chevron between three trefoils indicate, "Things of three" and in this case might reference three family members.

This is the coat of arms that I call my own. After I was married and had some kids, I decided to personalize the crest above, changing the shape of the shield and adding the family's initials. I'm still designing something new, perhaps a different, more regal, european looking eagle. It gives me purpose. In the meantime, my son created the cool looking .GIF file, whereby the eagle's wings are actually flapping...so cool.

The 1892 Fairbairns Book of Crests of the families of Great Briton and Ireland refers to a LeBlanc on page 265 and I was very happy to see this reference, providing some semblance of credability to the crest that I adopted for my own.

The village of Le Blanc in France uses this image of a white swan on water as their crest. Sub-prefecture of INDRE, Cantonal capital

This crest was created by Dr. Percy LeBlanc for the LeBlanc Family of Smoke Bend Louisiana.

The Emblem, by: Percy Henri LeBlanc from "The LeBlanc Clan of Smoke Bend, Louisiana"

We like to feel that we are a happy family, and we like to point with pride that we are part of this family. However, because of the large number of people, the need for an emblem designing the individuals as a member is evident. The emblem is a symbol of our family unit. The form it assumes is symbolic of the good things of this earth which we hope are incorporated in our family circle.

The emblem consists of an equilateral triangle, the same as the Greek letter Delta, signifying strength. Upon the base are the roots of a sturdy oak with its branches filling the entire area of the triangle. The oak was chosen because we know it to be constant, strong and sturdy. The base of the triangle, looking up towards the pinnacle, symbolizes FAITH. St. Paul said, "Love is greater than faith, but love without faith
becomes futile and barren." Personal disappointments and despair can destroy us, but not if we have faith. We must have faith in God, faith in the future, and faith in our fellowman. Because, without faith there can be no trust. As Bernard Baruch once said, "Paradise is not for this world. All men cannot be masters, but more need not be slaves. We can not cast out pain from the world, but needless suffering we can. Tragedy will be with us in some degree as long as there is life, but misery we can banish. Injustice will raise its head in the best of all possible worlds, but tyranny we can conquer. Evil will invade some men's hearts, intolerance will twist some men's minds, but decency is a far more common attribute, and it can be made to prevail in our daily lives, if we have FAITH."

The second side of the triangle represents HONOR. Honor, not in the sense of laurels gained, but God given honor, without which there can be no honesty, no character, no love. There can be no true work or mission in life without honor. There can be no tolerance, no fidelity, without that basic ingredient in our souls, HONOR.

The third side of the triangle we call HUMILITY. Too few of us have ever experienced the refreshing joy of candidly admitting our limitations. It was St. Augustine who said, "There is something in humility which strangely exalts the heart." God blesses in a special way those who are honest with themselves and try to make the best of the talents God has given them. Any quest we seek, we must be humble enough to know that mortal man has a superior. In our relationship with the universe, we cannot help but become humble. Humility is the noblest fruit of introspection. It establishes defenses against pride, that sin which the orthodox church justly stamps as the foundation of all evil. Without HUMILITY, there can be no courage, no love, no hope.

So let us build our tree of life, encompassed by the three attributes so divinely bestowed upon us, HONOR, FAITH AND HUMILITY. With these, whatever we add to the dignity and fullness of life will be good.

HONNEUR - FOI - HUMILITE
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H. Paul LeBlanc provided the background information on this crest many years ago on my old site. Percy was Paul's great uncle. The LeBlancs that Paul descends from first settled in St. James LA in the 1760's following the dispersion from Acadia, and slowly moved up river towards Baton Rouge.

I see some resemblance to the Mosaic located at the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana.

Coat of arms for Monseigneur Edouard LeBlanc (1870-1935), Bishop of Saint-John, NB and first Acadian Bishop of the maritime provinces.

This information was extracted from the publication "Les blasons, trésors révélés de la cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption", written by M. Robert Pichette in 2019.

This record was kindly shared by

Coordinatrice diocésaine de catéchèse
Diocèse de Moncton

Translation by David B. Snook

The Coat of Arms of Monseigneur (Mgr) LeBlanc, appointed Bishop of Saint John in 1912, provides the central design for a semi-circular stained glass window located over the door to the side chapel, where Mgr Melanson is buried (in Notre Dame de L’Assomption Cathedral). The Arms are painted in blue, from the green rock face at the point and left side of the shield, to the silver-rigged, gold-coloured boat sailing towards the right quadrant; and from the gold star in the upper third (Chef) of the shield to the right quadrant. The device (motto) is “Charity in all things”. The shield is positioned over the Bishop’s cross and is topped by the Bishop’s green hat and 12 tassels, six on each side.

It should be noted that this Coat of Arms infringes a basic rule of Heraldry, since one colour (green) is superimposed over another (blue) and a metal (gold star) is placed over another (silver background).”

The Coat of Arms of The Right Honourable Romeo LeBlanc - 18 Dec 1927 – 24 Jun 2009

Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc, PC CC CMM ONB CD was the 25th Governor General of Canada, since Confederation. A journalist, politician and statesman, he was born in Memramcook, New Brunswick in 1927 and married twice. He has a park and an airport named after him.

Grande-Digue, New Brunswick
Grant of Arms and Supporters
January 31, 1995
Vol. II, p. 1

Diana Fowler LeBlanc
Ottawa, Ontario
Grant of Arms and Supporters
September 29, 1999
Vol. III, p. 342

Wife of the Right
Honourable Romeo LeBlanc.

Arthur Joseph LeBlanc
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Grant of Arms and Supporters
June 15, 2018
Vol. VII, p. 93

2017 First Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia of Acadian descent and the first francophone since 1713.

Leblanc, Sir Pierre-Evariste, K.C. (Quebec, Que.), Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec, comes of an historic family which was among those driven from Acadia, Nova Scotia, and settled at L’Isle Jesus, Laval County, Que. He is the son of Joseph Leblanc and Adele Belanger, born at St. Martin, August 10, 1853, and educated in the Academy of that place and Normal School of Jacques-Cartier. The present Lieutenant-Governor was called to the Bar in 1879, and was for several years a teacher. In 1893 he was created King’s Counsel by Lord Stanley, of Preston, and was a member of the Provincial Legislature of Quebec from 1882 to 1908, during which time he was speaker of the Assembly under the de Boucherville, Taillon and Flynn Governments. His Honor was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the province in 1915, and K.C.M.G., June 3, 1916. He married Herminie, daughter of Theodore Beaudry and Catharine Vallee, January 12, 1886, by whom he has three children—Lieutenant Beaudry Leblanc, C.E.F., Mrs. Juliette L. De Costa, Buenos Ayres, and Mrs. Arthur Perodeau, Montreal. He is a member of the Garrison Club, Quebec; Mount Royal, Montreal Hunt, and St. James Clubs, all of Montreal. In religion His Honor is a Roman Catholic, and in politics a Conservative.

Source: Title: A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography
Date of first publication: 1919
Author: Hector Charlesworth
Date first posted: Nov. 29, 2016
Date last updated: Nov. 29, 2016
Faded Page eBook #20161136
This ebook was produced by: David T. Jones, Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

Image to the right was found in a French Almanache du Peuple 1916 discussing Lieutenant Gouverneurs of Quebec.

D'or, au chevron de gueles, au chef d'azur charge d'une etoile d'argent.
Gold, with chevron, the top; azure charged with a silver star.

Jean-Claude LeBlanc de Beaulieu, France, 1753-1825, Priest

Left to right: Leblanc de Boisriche, LeBlanc Touraine, LeBlanc Quebec, Leblanc de Lespinass

These four coat of arms were listed on the family tree website "Geneanet" and posted by users.

Acadian Memorial Meditation Garden
Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana

Elements of this mosaic are also found in the "Emblem" that Percy Henri LeBlanc created for his family.

This crest is completely unknown to me and found on the Acadian Genealogy Homepage; Acadian and French-Canadian. At first glance it almost looks like an American design but quickly the Acadian flag colours come through.

Le Centre de genealogie francophone d'amerique.
I have never seen this crest until 2019. The web page I found it on does not elaborate on its origins.

Granted on August 15 1995 to the Association des LeBlanc, inc. under the authority of His Excellency Roméo A. LeBlanc, Governor General of Canada.

I'm not sure what the deal is with this organization. The web page appears to be old and not maintained anymore. The front page was last revised in 2016 and emails sent to them will not be replied. I think they have a FaceBook presence. It is hard to get in touch with them.

Congrès Mondial Acadien / World Congress of Acadians, 1994 - 1999 - 2004 - 2009 - 2019

"The objective of the Congrès mondial acadien is to reinforce the strong ties that unite our communities and to pay further witness to modern, genuine Acadian identity."

During a few of these events, there were some crests created for the LeBlanc familes that attended. Lucie LeBlanc Consentino from the website, "Acadian & French Canadian Ancestral Home" has them on display, but the quality of the images are low. I would like to get some nice crisp examples of them.

In the Novel, "Tidewater Blood", by William Hoffman, on page 27, William vaguely describes a LeBlanc Coat of Arms as having the motto Fortudo et Vires, loosely translated as Courage and Strength. Although a work of fiction, I wanted to someday contact Mr. Hoffman and ask if his description was based on anything real but unfortunatly he has since pass on.

Set in Virginia in the 1980s, Tidewater Blood opens at the annual LeBlanc family celebration. Rich, pretentious, and proud, the LeBlancs operate a prosperous plantation and celebrate their heritage each year in grand old Southern fashion on the mansion's portico.

In the 1995 Harlequin intrigue novel, "Behind the Mask", by Joanna Wayne, part of the story takes place in the "LeBlanc House" and one secret door has a LeBlanc Crest described vaguely as having a lion. This book too is a work of fiction and I may someday contact Ms. Wayne about it.

The author Joanna was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana and I speculate that she was familiar with the LeBlanc name from that region.

This is where the commercial sites begin.

Please be advised that by no means am I endorsing these web sites by listing them here. They are included on this page because they claim to have symbology relating to the LeBlanc family. I have never subscribed to their services nor have I researched any of their products or claims.

One of the few business' that use a reference for their images. They reference page 265 of the 1892 Fairbairns Book of Crests of the families of Great Briton and Ireland.

This web site references Rietstap's Armorial General Tome II, by J.B. Rietstap, Heraldic Authority, stating that their design originated from that book, however, I could not find the LeBlanc name anywhere in the publication. The name should have been found on page 38, but it is not there, so I have no idea where they came up with this lion image.

This site provides a hint of royalty to the LeBlanc surname and references some history and names that I am not familiar with, at all. House of Names can provide a varied assortment of gift ideas with the family crest. They seem to be very copyright oriented although their design looks earily similiar to other web sites or maybe the other sites look the same as this one?

San Tache translates to "Spotless" or "without Stain".

These two particular crests can be found on www.4crests.comand the crest on the left can also be found on www.zazzle.comso I'm not sure who claims copyright. They both look eerily similar to the crest from House of Names. Once again though, it has the familiar bird chevron and three devices, this time with 3 lions. I got the impression that zazzle just makes crests to order and places it on any gift idea, however I saw that one of their gifts included the meaning of the LeBlanc name, so I’m not sure where they dredge up that information.

Found this crest on a web site on France.

The Tree maker website has only one design for the LeBlanc family displayed but can apparently create a custom design made to your order. They also provide many unique gift ideas decorated with your crest.

COADB.com appears to cater to every whim and fancy with no clear source for their designs because under the topic of Origin, meaning and family history, they have yet to complete their research. This family owned and run business have about 36+ variations of the LeBlanc Coat of Arms and you can purchase a shirt, poster, coffee mug or stickers decorated with your chosen design. Some of their designs are displayed here.