Family name origins & meanings
- Southern French and English (of Norman origin) : from a Germanic personal name of uncertain origin. The first element is probably the tribal name Gaut (see Joslin); the second is berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’.
- The name is documented in 1665 in Trois Rivières, Quebec, with the secondary surname Desfontaines. A bearer from the Poitou region of France is recorded in 1669 in Quebec City. The secondary surname Chety is recorded in 1709.