Charpentier Explained

Charpentier (pronounced as /fr/) is the French word for "carpenter", and it is also a French surname; a variant spelling is Carpentier. In English, the equivalent word and name is "Carpenter"; in German, "Zimmermann"; in Dutch, "Timmerman".

The origin of the name dates to 900–1000, when the Old French "Charpentier" derived from the Late Latin carpentarius artifex ("carpenter" or "wainwright"), equivalent to Latin carpent(um), meaning "two-wheeled carriage" (perhaps ultimately derived from Celtic—consider Old Irish carpad, "chariot"), suffixed with arius ("-ary"); see ER2.^[1]

Persons with the surname

Visual arts

• Alexandre Charpentier (1856–1909), French sculptor
• Constance Marie Charpentier (1767–1849), French painter
• Elisa Beetz-Charpentier (1859-1949), French sculptor
• Jean-Marie Charpentier (1939-2010), French architect
• Marguerite Charpentier (1848-1904), French art collector and salonist

Composers & musicians

• Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704), French composer of much sacred vocal music including Te Deum (Charpentier), and Molière's last collaborator
• Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier (28 June 1734 – 6 May 1794) French organist and composer, father of Jacques-Marie (1766–1834), also an organist and composer
• Gustave Charpentier (1860–1956), French composer of Louise (opera)
• Gabriel Charpentier (born 1925), Canadian composer (see Canadian encyclopedia entry)
• Jacques Charpentier (1933–2017), French composer and organist

Politicians

• Gilles Charpentier (born 1927), French politician
• Léon Charpentier (1859–1945), French politician
• Victor-Therese Charpentier (1732–1776), French governor-general of Saint-Domingue

Scientists

• Augustin Charpentier (1852–1916), French physician, investigator of size-weight illusion
• Emmanuelle Charpentier (born 1968), French researcher in Microbiology, Genetics and Biochemistry
• François Charpentier (1620–1702), French archaeologist and scholar
• François-Philippe Charpentier (1734–1817), French engraver and inventor
  • Johann von or Jean de Charpentier (1786–1855), German-Swiss geologist, namesake of the Antarctic Charpentier Pyramid Johann Friedrich Wilhelm de Charpentier (1738–1805), the father of both Toussaint and Johann/Jean
• Marie Charpentier (1903–1994), mathematician
• Toussaint de Charpentier (1779–1847), German geologist and entomologist

Soldiers

• Henri François Marie Charpentier (1769–1831), French general of the Napoleonic Wars

Writers

• Fulgence Charpentier (1897–2001), Canadian journalist, editor and publisher

Athletes

• Sébastien Charpentier (born 1973), French motorcycle racer
• Sébastien Charpentier (born 1977), Canadian ice hockey player
• Gabriel Charpentier (born 1999), Congolese-born French association football player

Other

• Henri Charpentier (183?-1888), namesake of a lake and town in North Dakota
• Georges Charpentier (1846-1905), 19th century French publisher

See also

• Charpentier River in Northern Quebec, Canada

Notes and References

1. Combined from several sources including: "Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary" 1996 by Barnes & Noble Books and "Concise Oxford Dictionary - 10th Edition by Oxford University Press.