The name of the city is mentioned in the forms of Grandivilla in 1054, Grande Villa in 1056, Grandvilla in 1172 and Granville in 1175.

All modern toponymists agree on the origin of the Gran- element: Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing have classed Granville with the toponyms of the Grandvelle/Grandville type, whose first term is explained just by the Old French grant ("grand").
François de Beaurepaire followed suit, as well as Ernest Nègre and René Lepelley.

According to Edouard Le Héricher ("Avranchin monumental and historic") the origin of the toponym is explained by a character named Grant who received the fief of Rollo of Normandy during the conquest of Neustria.

If experts agree all that it is a medieval formation of -ville, the exact meaning to give this suffix varies between "village, hamlet" (Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, François de Beaurepaire, Ernest Nègre) and "domain" (René Lepelley) which should probably be in the sense of "rural area", initially it had the value of the Gallo-Roman VILLA.

Some historians and geographers of the past have attempted to connect Granville to the Grannonum/Grannona, toponym attested in the Notitia Dignitatum on the Saxon Shore from the late Roman Empire: tribunus cohortis primae Armoricanae, Grannona novae in litore Saxonico.
This explains why some 18th-century maps describing the former Roman Gaul revealed the name of Grannonum at the location of Granville (see map opposite).
This hypothesis is now abandoned by contemporary practitioners.

During the Revolution, the town temporarily took the name of Granville-la-Victoire (after the siege of the Vendéens she had victoriously endured in 1793), the name was then formalised without this complementary addition.

According to the standard Norman spelling developed in the second half of the 20th century, the name of the town is written as Graunville ([ɡʁɑɔ̃vil]).

Cap Lihou is named from the Old Norse word holm meaning "island, islet" and which has in some cases evolved as -hou, as the endpoint.
The name of the city is mentioned in the forms of Grandivilla in 1054, Grande Villa in 1056, Grandvilla in 1172 and Granville in 1175.
All modern toponymists agree on the origin of the Gran- element: Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing have classed Granville with the toponyms of the Grandvelle/Grandville type, whose first term is explained just by the Old French grant ("grand"). François de Beaurepaire followed suit, as well as Ernest Nègre and René Lepelley.
According to Edouard Le Héricher ("Avranchin monumental and historic") the origin of the toponym is explained by a character named Grant who received the fief of Rollo of Normandy during the conquest of Neustria.
If experts agree all that it is a medieval formation of -ville, the exact meaning to give this suffix varies between "village, hamlet" (Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, François de Beaurepaire, Ernest Nègre) and "domain" (René Lepelley) which should probably be in the sense of "rural area", initially it had the value of the Gallo-Roman VILLA.
Some historians and geographers of the past have attempted to connect Granville to the Grannonum/Grannona, toponym attested in the Notitia Dignitatum on the Saxon Shore from the late Roman Empire: tribunus cohortis primae Armoricanae, Grannona novae in litore Saxonico. This explains why some 18th-century maps describing the former Roman Gaul revealed the name of Grannonum at the location of Granville (see map opposite). This hypothesis is now abandoned by contemporary practitioners.
During the Revolution, the town temporarily took the name of Granville-la-Victoire (after the siege of the Vendéens she had victoriously endured in 1793), the name was then formalised without this complementary addition.
According to the standard Norman spelling developed in the second half of the 20th century, the name of the town is written as Graunville ([ɡʁɑɔ̃vil]).
Cap Lihou is named from the Old Norse word holm meaning "island, islet" and which has in some cases evolved as -hou, as the endpoint.
Granville, Manche