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Message: <blockquote data-quote="l_raty" data-source="post: 3236952" data-attributes="member: 24811">I doubt he really did. I think he was shown a bird in Paris, that had been brought from La Réunion, and was presented to him as a perroquet mascarin. And that he just retained this name as it was.I don't know German rules enough to comment. I once asked German native speakers and they were unsure as well.In French, the "de" is theoretically a preposition that links two appellations, so it is "X de Y", but in most cases not "de Y" if you omit "X". "Georges-Louis de Buffon", "Monsieur de Buffon", "le Comte de Buffon", but "Buffon" in isolation. This is how he signed, and how he was called. Exceptions to this rule include: some (not all -- usage is king) phonetically monosyllabic names ("de Sparre" [the -e is mute]), elided particles (d'Orbigny [but d'Orbigny & Lafresnaye; or d'Orbigny & La Fresnaye: articles are always retained]), and contracted particles (du Bus).You would not say that Waterloo was won "by of Wellington", would you?</blockquote>