Daily Ancestornaturel
Naturel in French records usually means born outside marriage: an enfant naturel was a child whose parents were not married to each other.
An enfant naturel, fils naturel or fille naturelle is a child born outside marriage. Such an entry may name only the mother and describe the father as unknown, père inconnu.
FamilySearch warns that naturel does not always mean illegitimate, so check the context. When the parents later married, French civil records may note the legitimation in the margin of the birth record.
As seen in a recordBaptism entry in a Catholic parish register, Quebec, 1840s
Marie Zoé, fille naturelle de Euphrosine Lacoursière, de père inconnu
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How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "naturel." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/french/naturel. Last checked 2026-10-28.