Brittany genealogy and book research: archives, libraries and where to start

Start with the map

Historic Brittany had five departments: Finistère, Côtes-d'Armor, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine and Loire-Atlantique. The last now belongs to the Pays de la Loire region, but its archives are still part of the story. Records are held by department, so finding the right place for an ancestor or a book comes first. Two older terms help with texts: Basse-Bretagne, the western Breton-speaking part, and Haute-Bretagne, the eastern part, where Gallo is spoken.

Parish and civil records

From the sixteenth century many parishes kept registers of baptisms, marriages and burials, and civil registration began in France in 1792. Most records sit in the departmental archives, and many departments publish digitised registers online free of charge. FamilySearch also holds a microfilmed collection named France, Brittany, Church and Civil Records. Always check the archive's own catalogue for the exact years covered, and expect gaps.

Names and spellings

Many Breton families have surnames such as Le Goff, from the Breton word for smith, but clerks often wrote names as they heard them, and often in French. Spellings of the same family can vary from one record to the next, and so can first names and place names. Search several variants and look at the context before you decide that two entries are different people.

Finding Breton books

For books, begin with large catalogues: the catalogue of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the French academic union catalogue SUDOC and WorldCat. Search both French and Breton titles, and try both Bretagne and Breizh. Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, offers older books in digital form, including nineteenth century collections of songs and tales. The Library of Congress research guide to Breton printed works is a good outline for English-language readers.

Public domain translations of tales are often easier to find on sites that host older books, and some editions of the Barzaz Breiz are available as transcribed text on Wikisource. For the topic of language learning, see the Breton language guide.

Libraries and research centres

University libraries in Brittany, the municipal libraries of Rennes, Brest and Quimper and several regional cultural institutes keep Breton collections. The University of Western Brittany in Brest hosts a research centre on Breton and Celtic studies. Many have catalogues online and will answer enquiries by e-mail, so write before travelling.

Research habits that save time

• Note which edition you are reading: tales and songs were revised from one edition to the next.
• Keep a list of the spellings you tried and where.
• Prefer the archive's own digital copies to third-party transcriptions when you can.
• Treat popular websites and genealogy trees as leads, not as sources.