ecorded in many spellings including Le Noury, Noury, Nouray, de Nore, Norree, Norreau, and Nourry, this is a French surname. It has several possible origins. It may be locational from the town of Nore, which actually means the north. This would certainly apply to the early recording that we have of Aristide de Nore, who was a witness at the church of St Pierre Andreze, in the departement of Maine-et-Loire on March 16th 1648. Secondly the name may be regional and describe a person from the North, although this spelling is usually Nord. Thirdly it may be a nickname from the word 'noir' meaning black, and hence describe a person of dark features, possibly a Breton. The Bretons are and were Celts, like the Cornish and the Welsh, and shared their physical characteristics. Unfortunately early French church registers recordings are very poor or non existent when compared with other advanced countries. This is because the majority were deliberately destroyed during the Revolution of 1792. At this time not only were the records destroyed, but religion itself was banned for ten years, until restored by the Emperor Napoleon. However in this case we have been able to find examples. Perhaps the earliest is that of Geoffroy Noury who married Marie Gauvain at St Jaques Angers, also in Maine-et-Loire, on August 27th 1672.

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