Alexandre Dumas's Real Name: Alexandre Dumas

Quick answer: The novelist is known as Alexandre Dumas, often distinguished as Dumas père from his son, the dramatist also named Alexandre Dumas. Britannica and Larousse independently date his birth to July 24, 1802, in Villers-Cotterêts, France, and his death to December 5, 1870, in Puys, near Dieppe (Britannica; Larousse).

Real name and early life

He is known professionally and in literary history as Alexandre Dumas. Larousse lists that as his name. A longer family form, Davy de La Pailleterie, is used by Britannica for his father, the general Thomas-Alexandre Davy de La Pailleterie, who Britannica says assumed the name Dumas in 1786; this page therefore titles the public name rather than treating the father's family form as the son's independently documented legal name. Britannica says the family fell on hard times after the general's death in 1806, and that the young Alexandre went to Paris, obtained a post in the household of the Duke d'Orléans, the future King Louis-Philippe, and tried his fortune in the theatre. Larousse independently places the birth in Villers-Cotterêts, notes a mother from a family of innkeepers, and says he became a second clerk to the town notary in 1822 after studies at the private college of the Abbé Grégoire.

Career highlights

Britannica says he first gained a reputation as a dramatist and then as a historical novelist, especially for The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, and names the play Henri III et sa cour (1829). Larousse independently records the reception of Henri III et sa cour at the Comédie-Française, later collaboration with Auguste Maquet, and the publication of The Three Musketeers (1844), Twenty Years After, The Count of Monte Cristo, La Reine Margot, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, The Queen's Necklace, The Black Tulip, and Mes Mémoires (1852). Britannica also notes that he was the father of the dramatist and novelist Alexandre Dumas, called Dumas fils.

Death

Britannica dates his death to December 5, 1870, in Puys, near Dieppe. Larousse independently records the same date and place: "Le 5 décembre 1870 à Puys près de Dieppe."

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Alexandre Dumas, Dumas père, or the author of The Three Musketeers are looking for this French novelist, not his son, Alexandre Dumas fils. The longer form Davy de La Pailleterie is documented here for the novelist's father.