Noel, Nova Scotia - Namesake of Noel

Namesake of Noel

The village of Noel is named after Noel Doiron. Prior to the publication of academic scholarship on the namesake of the village of Noel (2008), the origin of the community's name was virtually unknown. The reason for the name's unknown origin was, in part, because the oral history of the community was lost with the Deportation of the Acadians, which left the village vacated for 21 years. The Ulster Scots and their descendants who arrived in the village created folklore that claimed that the village was named "Noel" (the French word for Christmas) because either the Acadians or the Irish first arrived in the village on Christmas day. Such folklore informed The Chronicle Herald headline on December 14, 1965: “Village of Noel has Direct Association with Christmas.” This folklore has also been reflected in a recent children’s book by Bruce Nunn & Yolanda Poplawska named Magical Christmas Light of Old Nova Scotia (2003). There is also a special Christmas postmark by Canada Post created for the community (2005).