Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Would you possibly know if my last name(RACHAL) pronounced phonetically like in Kreyol Ayisyen originally came from Ayiti? I spoke with a doctor from Dominikani who told me he had run across my last name among some Haitian Creole people there. Anyway, my last name (RACHAL) has no coat of arms and did not originate in Louisiana nor Canada. Over 90% of the people in LA that have my last name are Black. Mesi anpil

Rachal is most likely a French last name. This last name dates back to the late 1600s in France.  There are a few Rachals in South Africa, and Saudi Arabia too.
Rachal is also used as a first name for mostly boys in other European countries.

In order for this last name to originate from Haiti it would have to come from either the Tainos (the indians and first inhabitants of the islands of Haiti and the D.R before 1500), the spanish conquerors, the French colons, or the West Africans slaves.
...And if it did not come from the Tainos, its origin is not Haitian.

I think the best place to start unearthing this family tree is at the Archives Nationales of France.

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

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