Chouan

Chouan ("the silent one", or "owl") is a French surname. It was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution. Members of this revolt (and even French royalists in general) came to be known as Chouans, and the revolt itself came to be known as the Chouannerie.

Jean Cottereau and his brothers all inherited the surname Chouan from their father, a clog merchant and homme honorable from Saint-Berthevin in Mayenne, on the border with Brittany. One view is that this nickname originated from his talent for impersonating the cry of the owl (chouette in French), or specifically the tawny owl, which was called chouan in old French (French chat-huant), a designation that survived in the western langue d'oïl dialect spoken in Mayenne. According to another authority, the only reason the members of the Cottereau family had long borne the surname Chouan was that their grandparent was sad and taciturn by nature, and according to yet another, because they used owl-calls as warning and recognition signals whilst out on smuggling trips. Writing within living memory of the events, Jacques Duchemin des Cépeaux insisted that,

The surname of Chouan was given to Jean Chouan's grandfather because he was by nature taciturn and sad and because, at meetings, he kept himself out of the way in a corner. Since that time, the Cottereau family has maintained this surname. It was in turn given to all men who mustered to fight under the command of Jean Chouan, and finally to other royalists in arms in the western provinces. As for the account that the first Chouans imitated the cry of birds of the night to recognise and call each other, it is a supposition made by those who - not knowing the true explanation - nevertheless wanted to have some explanation to satisfy their curiosity... Maybe some insurgents had this idea which was suggested to them by their nickname. Although it is only some, it is to be noted that the bird formerly dedicated to armed wisdom became a sort of emblem for the bellicose piety of our peasants."

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