The Changuion family is a French-origin family with branches in France, the Netherlands, and South Africa. With roots traceable to at least the 16th centuryâÂÂand earlier mentions dating back to the 15th centuryâÂÂthe family became known for its contributions to publishing, diplomacy, education, governance, religion, and the arts. Originally Huguenots from the Champagne region, members of the family fled religious persecution in the 17th century and settled in Protestant regions such as the Netherlands and Germany. One prominent member, François Daniël Changuion, was ennobled in the Netherlands in 1815 for his role in the founding of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Today, descendants of the family live across Europe, Southern Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond.
The surname "Changuion" (pronunciation: [<nowiki/>]) may trace its origins to the commune of Champguyon, a village in the Brie region of Champagne, France. Historical records show that the name of the village evolved over centuries, with documented forms including Campus Guidonis (1161), Champ-Guidonis, Cham-Guion (1252), Changuon (late 1200s), Champguion (1395), and Changuyon (1804), reflecting a linguistic progression that may also underlie the family name.
The earliest known mentions of the surname itself date back to 1416, when a Professor François Changuion is recorded as teaching anatomy at the University of Paris. There are also references to Changuion family members residing in Toulouse in the early 1500s. While these earlier individuals are not directly connected to the documented lineage, they reflect the surnameâÂÂs longstanding presence in France.
One of the first historically traceable members of the family appears in 1562, during the massacre of Wassy, a town in the old French province of Champagne. Pierre Changuion is named as one of the Protestant (Huguenot) churchgoers who were attacked by Roman Catholic forces.
In the decades following this event, some of Pierre's family moved to Vitry-le-François. As members of the bourgeoisie, many of them left France around the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 due to the ensuing religious persecutions, settling in neighboring Protestant countries. Today, some members of the Changuion family still reside in the region of France from which the family originally came.
One of the Dutch branches of the family sprang from a son of Pierre Changuion referred to above at the massacre of Wassy. This branch settled directly in Leiden in the Netherlands after leaving Wassy in 1686, and became involved in the textile industry. They would eventually produce lawyer, writer and administrator, Pierre-Jean Changuion (1763-1820), who was appointed as governor of the Colony of Curaçao and Dependencies in 1804. In the nineteenth century, this branch became extinct in the male line.
Another of the Dutch branches of the Changuion family, from which the South African branch also descends, came from a son of the above-mentioned Pierre Changuion, also called Pierre, who was buried in Wassy in 1634. A grandson of this Pierre, named Daniel Changuion, was born in Wassy in 1630 and settled in Vitry-le-Francois as a merchant. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Daniel Changuion moved to Halle (Saale) in Germany with his son, Jean who was born in Vitry around 1660. One of Jean's sons, François (1694-1777) was baptised in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1694 and moved to Amsterdam in about 1717 where he was burgher and bookdealer. In 1724 Francois established a printing house, which would become very successful.
One of Francois' grandsons, François Daniël Changuion (1766-1850), was elevated to the Dutch nobility on 16 September 1815 due to his role as secretary of the provisional government of the Netherlands (the Triumvirate under Van Hogendorp) in 1813. As such, he is considered one of the founders of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. His ennoblement allowed him and his descendants to use the predicate jonkheer and jonkvrouw. As a member of the nobility, he was granted the right to bear a crown in the crest of his coat of arms.
In 1823, F.D. Changuion was convicted in absentia of fraud. Two years later, in 1825, the first list of the persons belonging to the nobility was compiled in the Netherlands. Only F.D. Changuion's children born before 27 February 1823 (the date of his sentencing), and not himself, were named on this list. These children remained part of the nobility, and could pass this status on to their descendants. This continues to be the official view of the High Council of Nobility in the Netherlands.
However, legal scholar Briët argued in 2019 that no formal decision stripping F.D. Changuion of his nobility was ever made, and that such a removal has no statutory or legal basis. Nevertheless, this view is not universally shared; F.D. Changuion is generally considered to have lost his noble status after 1825.
One of François Daniël's sons, Antoine Changuion (1803-1881), moved to South Africa in 1831 to take up a professorship at the South African Athenaeum (founded in 1829, later known as the South African College and now as the University of Cape Town).
From Antoine sprang two notable branches of the family in South Africa: one through his son Louis Annes Changuion (1840âÂÂ1910), from whom all South African Changuions today descend and who continued the noble line; and another through his son Abraham Arnoldus Faure Changuion (1835âÂÂ1877), the forefather of the Chanquin family.
Abraham entered into a union with a woman named Maggie, who was of Malay-Portuguese descent. While the exact nature of their relationship remains unclear, it occurred during a time when interracial unions in the Cape, though not unlawful, were often discouraged within colonial and noble European society. It is believed that their descendants adopted the surname Chanquion, later written Chanquin, possibly in response to social pressures or as an act of self-definition.
The coat of arms is described as in blue (azure), a Moor's head in natural color (proper), with two gold flaming stars above (or) and a silver crescent below (argent). For the noble branch of the family, a barred helm with a crown of three leaves and two pearls. Mantling: blue lined with gold. Crest: a star from the shield. The ancestral motto: Zèlé pour la Foi et le Roi ("Zeal for Faith and the King") appears in black letters on a white ribbon.
According to a centuries-old family tradition, the fleeing Changuions were sheltered by Muslims during their escape from religious persecution. Another interpretation suggests that the symbol may have originated during the time of the Crusades. Either way, as an expression of gratitude, a Moor's head - an established heraldic symbol historically associated with Muslims - was incorporated into the family's coat of arms.