{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T18:31:39Z","timestamp":1776364299231,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776297600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>One-off events such as wars or epidemics can change the structure of populations, by encouraging the mobility or causing the death of certain categories of people. They can also lead to a demographic slump, made up for by the arrival of new migrants. The town of Martigues (Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne, France) provides an example of this kind of local population renewal. Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, its population was partially renewed after the plague of 1720. To measure the effect of the plague as a disruptive event, data on the surnames of people born in Martigues before and after the epidemic of 1720 were collected and analysed. After a delicate stage of lemmatization of the surnames, three categories of names were distinguished: those present before 1720 and which disappeared from Martigues after the plague; those absent before 1720 and which appeared afterwards; and surnames that were continually present in Martigues, but whose frequency in terms of the number of births per year could be contrasted between before and after 1720. The surname data for these three categories is compared with the list of names of the victims of the plague, which makes it possible to envisage a possible reason for their disappearance. In addition, the frequencies of surnames in the 18th century in the Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne department and in France in the 19th century make it possible to locate the possible destination of people whose surnames disappeared after 1720, as well as the probable origin of the surnames of people arriving after 1720. This study helps us to understand how the impact of an epidemic crisis can affect the evolution of a population on a local scale. The surname method used here indicates that the plague caused an exceptionally large renewal of approximately 50% of the stock of surnames, and thus of the population bearing those names. It also shows that fertility declined significantly among individuals whose surnames were already present among those who died of the plague. Finally, the results demonstrate that population renewal was achieved primarily through immigration, mainly from neighbouring municipalities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0346747","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T17:28:58Z","timestamp":1776360538000},"page":"e0346747","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The plague of 1720 and migration in Martigues (France) in the 17th and 18th centuries"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-6576-096X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Pierre","family":"Darlu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6833-570X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Isabelle","family":"S\u00e9guy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0346747.ref001","first-page":"17","article-title":"Espaces migratoires et aire d\u2019influence de la ville de Dijon \u00e0 la fin du XIV\u00e8me si\u00e8cle.","author":"Universit\u00e9 de Tours","year":"1997","journal-title":"Cahiers de Recherches M\u00e9di\u00e9vales (XIII\u00b0-XV\u00b0 si\u00e8cle)"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref002","first-page":"11","article-title":"Anthroponymie et migrations en Dijonnais (XIVe-XXe si\u00e8cle)","author":"P Beck","year":"2014","journal-title":"Onoma"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref003","first-page":"245","volume-title":"Spatial and temporal analyses of surname distributions to estimate mobility and changes in historical demography: the example of Savoy (France) from the XVIIIth to XXth century","author":"P Darlu","year":"2011"},{"issue":"6141","key":"pone.0346747.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"714","DOI":"10.1038\/329714a0","article-title":"Migration rates of human populations from surname distributions","volume":"329","author":"A Piazza","year":"1987","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0346747.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"235","DOI":"10.1353\/hub.2012.a486777","article-title":"General method to unravel ancient population structures through surnames, final validation on Italian data","volume":"84","author":"A Boattini","year":"2012","journal-title":"Hum Biol"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1541","DOI":"10.1057\/s41599-024-04065-3","article-title":"A new approach to historical migratory movements based on surnames: the case of Spain","volume":"11","author":"R Rodr\u00edguez-D\u00edaz","year":"2024","journal-title":"Humanit Soc Sci Commun"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref007","article-title":"Exploring population structure and migration with surnames: Quebec, 1621-1900","author":"KA Henry","year":"2004","journal-title":"McGill University"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref008","first-page":"41","article-title":"Anthroponymie et migration: quelques outils d\u2019analyse et leur application \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tude des d\u00e9placements dans les domaines de Saint-Germain-des-Pr\u00e8s au IXe si\u00e8cle.","volume-title":"Anthroponymie et migrations dans la chr\u00e9tient\u00e9 m\u00e9di\u00e9vale","author":"P Chareille","year":"2010"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0346747.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"553","DOI":"10.1353\/hub.2013.a534223","article-title":"Evaluation of the Bayesian method to derive migration patterns from changes in surname distributions over time","volume":"85","author":"G Bloothooft","year":"2013","journal-title":"Hum Biol"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref010","first-page":"251","article-title":"Localisation de l\u2019origine g\u00e9ographique de migrants par la m\u00e9thode patronymique: exemple de quelques villes de France au d\u00e9but du XX\u00e8me si\u00e8cle","volume":"36","author":"P Darlu","year":"2007","journal-title":"Espace g\u00e9ographique"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref011","volume-title":"Marseille, ville morte-la peste de 1720","author":"C Carri\u00e8re","year":"1968"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref012","volume-title":"La Peste \u00e0 La Valette (1720-1721), Marseille","author":"G Buti","year":"1996"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref013","volume-title":"Col\u00e8re de Dieu, m\u00e9moire des hommes - La peste en Provence 1720-2020","author":"G Buti","year":"2020"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref014","volume-title":"Les hommes et la peste en France et dans les pays europ\u00e9ens et m\u00e9diterran\u00e9ens","author":"JN Biraben","year":"1975"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0346747.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0145194","article-title":"Genotyping Yersinia pestis in Historical plague: evidence for long-term persistence of Y. pestis in Europe from the 14th to the 17th Century","volume":"11","author":"L Seifert","year":"2016","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"874","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chom.2016.05.012","article-title":"Historical Y. pestis Genomes Reveal the European Black Death as the Source of Ancient and Modern Plague Pandemics","volume":"19","author":"MA Spyrou","year":"2016","journal-title":"Cell Host Microbe"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1007\/978-94-024-0890-4_6","article-title":"Genome and evolution of Yersinia pestis.","author":"Y Cui","year":"2016","journal-title":"Yersinia pestis: retrospective and perspective. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0346747.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tim.2024.10.008","article-title":"Historical plague pandemics: perspectives from ancient DNA","volume":"33","author":"E Gaul","year":"2025","journal-title":"Trends Microbiol"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref019","first-page":"323","article-title":"Mod\u00e9lisation de l\u2019impact d\u00e9mographique de la peste \u00e0 travers l\u2019exemple de Martigues (Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne).","volume-title":"La pal\u00e9od\u00e9mographie, m\u00e9moire d\u2019os, m\u00e9moire d\u2019hommes","author":"I S\u00e9guy","year":"2006"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref020","first-page":"189","article-title":"Chronique municipale de la peste de 1720 \u00e0 Martigues","volume-title":"Quatri\u00e8me centenaire de l\u2019Union des trois quartiers de Martigues","author":"L Abbatino","year":"1981"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref021","volume-title":"Statistique du d\u00e9partement des Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne avec atlas d\u00e9di\u00e9 au Roi","author":"C De Villeneuve","year":"1826"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref022","article-title":"\u00c9tude anthropologique de crises d\u00e9mographiques en contexte \u00e9pid\u00e9mique: aspects pal\u00e9o et biod\u00e9mographiques de la peste en Provence","author":"M Signoli","year":"1998","journal-title":"Universit\u00e9 Aix-Marseille"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref023","first-page":"170","volume-title":"\u00c9tude anthropologique de crises d\u00e9mographiques en contexte \u00e9pid\u00e9mique: aspects pal\u00e9o et biod\u00e9mographiques de la peste en Provence","author":"M Signoli","year":"2006"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref024","volume-title":"Micro urban topography, spatial and social distribution of Martigues\u2019s population at the very beginning of the 18th century","author":"I S\u00e9guy","year":"2016"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref025","unstructured":"INSEE. Registre francais des noms patronymiques. Available from: Fichiers des noms de famille\u20141891\u20131990, 1999, [Electronic File], INSEE [Producer], Centre Maurice Halbwachs (CMH) [Distributor]. 1985. Available: http:\/\/www.geopatronyme.com\/insee.htm"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref026","first-page":"1","article-title":"D\u00e9finition, identification et localisation de g\u00e9ohapax dans le corpus des patronymes fran\u00e7ais: comparaison de sources anciennes et r\u00e9centes","volume":"19","author":"P Chareille","year":"2013","journal-title":"Rivista Italiana di Onomastica"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref027","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"607","DOI":"10.2307\/1534434","article-title":"Quelques statistiques sur la distribution des patronymes en France","author":"P Darlu","year":"1997","journal-title":"Population"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref028","first-page":"275","article-title":"Patronymes et migrations en Normandie de la fin du XIVe \u00e0 la fin du XVe si\u00e8cle: premiers r\u00e9sultats","volume-title":"Anthroponymie et migrations dans la chr\u00e9tient\u00e9 m\u00e9di\u00e9vale","author":"D Angers","year":"2010"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref029","first-page":"186","article-title":"The data model concept in statistical mapping","volume":"1","author":"GF Jenks","year":"1967","journal-title":"International Yearbook Cartography"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0346747.ref030","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"855","DOI":"10.3917\/popu.p1978.33n4-5.0883","article-title":"F\u00e9condit\u00e9 des mariages dans le quart sud-est de la France de 1670 \u00e0 1829","volume":"33","author":"H Henry","year":"1978","journal-title":"Population"},{"key":"pone.0346747.ref031","first-page":"157","article-title":"L\u2019\u00e9volution de la f\u00e9condit\u00e9 en France aux XVIIIe et XIXe si\u00e8cles - Analyse r\u00e9gionale","author":"A Blum","year":"1988","journal-title":"Ann Demogr Hist (Paris)"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0346747","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T17:29:05Z","timestamp":1776360545000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0346747"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Gra\u017cyna","family":"Liczbi\u0144ska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]]},"references-count":31,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0346747","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]]}}}