CHOLET
As a child I head the story that my family took the Cholet surname name during the French Revolution to escape the attacks on the nobility. Plausible, perhaps even possible, and certainly very "romantic". However, a study of family documents dating back to 1740 prove that the the family had the name at least half a century before the French Revolution.
The name was likely taken from the city of Cholet in the Bordeaux region of western France, although exactly when they might have done so and exactly where they were living at the time is uncertain. It is reasonable to assume the family at least lived in the vicinity of the town at some time. Recently translated family documents place the family in the east of France (Départment de la haute Sôane, District de Vesoul, Commune de Faverney) sometime after 1746. The family was prominent in that area but whether or not there are other related branches in other parts of France (or elsewhere) is unknown. There is a large representation of the family name in Northwestern Switzerland and the two areas are not an unreasonable distance and migration could easily have occurred. Also, there is a good sized representation of the surname in Canada, although at this time a common ancestry has not been established.