Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu means what it means. Out of the 516 Saint-Something municipalities in the province, it's the largest... But the name was so common - lots of St-Jean in the province- that the town council added sur-Richelieu to it in 1978 in order to distinguish it from the village on Orleans island and... Saint-Jean (Saint John NB) and Saint-Jean de Terre-Neuve (St. John's NL). Richelieu stands for the river and indirectly for the Cardinal de Richelieu (a very odd character in French history).
Throughout history, it's first been called Masolian by the Abénakis, which meant "lots of silver". Then, Saint-Jean (because of the day the fort was inaugurated in 1666), St. Johns, Dorchester (obvious meaning - the man). During the French regime and until about 1790, the nickname of the place was Fort-aux-Maringouins (or "Fort Mosquito") because of well... haha. Our mascot during the Jeux du Québec was a huge maringouin called Moustique. Sadly the name didn't stick. Would have been fun.
Last edited by Laceoflight; Feb 8, 2018 at 9:45 PM.
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