Bettencourt

Bettencourt

Armorial of the Bettencourt family.
Current region	Azores, Brazil, Canary Islands, France, Madeira
Earlier spellings	Béthencourt
Place of origin	Normandy
Estate	Bettencourt Palace Madre de Deus Manor
Name origin and meaning	Toponymic name meaning Betten's Estate

Bettencourt is a surname and noble family of Norman origin. The head of the family in the 14th century, Jean de Béthencourt, organized an expedition to conquer the Canary Islands, resulting in his being made King of the Canary Islands. Though the royal title would be short-lived, it allowed the family to firmly establish itself afterwards in the Azores and Madeira islands. The family is one of the most expansive and established families of the Portuguese nobility.

Through the expansion of the Portuguese Empire and Spanish Crown, the family and name spread across the world, mainly throughout Spanish America, Portuguese America, and Portuguese Africa.

Though the spelling Bettencourt is the most widely used and standardized spelling of the family, both in Portuguese and French, other spellings of the name have arisen, mainly in Spanish. Some of these spellings include: Bettencour, Bethancourt/Betancourt, Béthencourt, Bitencourt/Bittencourt, Betancur, Betancurt, Betancurth, Betancor, Bitancurt, Betancurt, and Betencur

Bettencourt and Béthencourt are originally place-names in Northern France. The place-name element -court (courtyard, courtyard of a farm, farm) is typical of the French provinces, where the Frankish settlements formed an important part of the local population. It translated the Old Low Franconian word *hof "courtyard", "courtyard of a farm", "farm" (Dutch, Old English hof, German Hof)