Why the U in Nieuport

[gregoire]

this may look like a joke but it is serious
the Nieuport company was founded by edouard Nieport (with no U) did anyone have an idea why he have chosen to use a U in the name of his company (it seems that he also add a De to his name as well as the U) maybe to make it look like a nobility title (Nieuport is a city on the belgium coast)

[vince14]

To quote from Davilla's & Soltan's 'French Aircraft of the First World War' - "It is not known why the firm founded by Edouard de Nieport was spelled Nieuport" (Their italics). Hopefully someone on the forum may know, but I suspect that the reason is lost in the mists of time.

[Roundel]

Gregoire:

I have read that some Frenchman with last names that began with "De" capitalized the third letter to make the names seem aristocratic. One example was DeMorny, Napoleon III's right hand man. Perhaps Nieuport was up to something like that.

[Regulus]

Bonjour Grégoire,

J éspère que ceci peut t'aider un petit peu :

The notable French aircraft manufacturer Société Anonyme des Establissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 and rose to prominence before World War I with a series of elegant monoplane designs. The namesakes of the company, Edouard de Niéport (who died in 1911) and his brother Charles, were both killed in flying accidents before the war and so didn't have anything to do with the WW I planes development. (The spelling of the company name was a slight variation of the brothers' surname, it seems they did it because they didn't want to come over to aristocratic, perhaps not a bad idea in the republique.)
So their original name had the famous 'de', so the noblesse oblige one, not the capital letter.
The talented designer Gustave Delage joined the firm in 1914 and was responsible for the highly successful war-time line of sesquiplane V-strut single-seat scouts, the most famous of which were the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17. It is also the reason why an number of planes are known as the Nieuport-Delage, such as the 29, 42, 52, 62 or 390, 391, 580, 640, 641 and 642 series.

VBR from Regulus

[AustralianAce]

I dont know if this is true but in France during the war there was a French town called Nieuport. Maybe this was where the planes were built or something but Im not sure bout that.

[Regulus]

Hi,

Nieuport is in fact a Belgian coastal city and harbour, not so very far from the French border. It's real name is Nieuwpoort. In French Nieuport. The same way you have Brugge and Bruges.
Nieuwpoort is the place where the German army was stopped by opening the sluices. So this could have been the reason if it wasn't for the fact that the company name is a lot older !
But I think you both make a point that it could be a referring to the place.
It is something that deserves to be dug out further.

VBR from Regulus

[gregoire]

Thank for the answer Regulus, it sort of make sens even if Nieuport sound more noble than Nieport over the week end someone told me two other explanation (a bit in contradiction and yours seem better) it was to be easyest to prononce for the english speaking world and the other it was to sound more french.

[Billy_Bishop]

According to Peter Cooksley, in squadron/signal publications Aircraft Number 167, Nieuport Fighters in action,

"Edouard de Nieport along with his brother Charles emigrated from Algeria to France and in 1905 Edouard began designing aircraft. *Edouard de Nieuport (the brothers had changed the spelling of their name shortly after their arrival in France) had several successful monoplane designs to his credit by the time of his death in an air accident on 6 September 1911. *His brother was killed in a similar circumstances two years later. *Fortunately the Nieuport business interests were immediately taken over by Henri de la Meurthe who founded the Society Anonyme des Etablissements Nieuport, a firm that was to produce a series of fighting scouts that would become legend during World War One, as well as preserve the change in spelling the Nieport name to Nieuport, which had been adopted by both of the late brothers."

Unfortunately, it was not discovered WHY they changed the spelling of their last name.

VBR,

Al Lowe

[Barrett]

the change is not without precedent (or, more properly, emulation.) The Loughead Brothers changed their company name to Lockheed.

Didn`t the Loughead brothers change their name to the way it is PRONOUNCED therefore maybe Nieport is/was pronounced Nieuport so to make life easier.....! And wouldn`t that be a wonderfull idea for Wales where a Vowel brings on a touch of the vapors