Its original name was Duverger, derived from a fief near Bressuire in Poitou, and its pedigree is traceable back to the 13th century.
A member of Doriot's fascist Parti Populaire Français from age 20, Maurice Duverger completed his studies in from the Bordeaux Department of Law in 1942, before lecturing in law at Poitiers in 1942, and Bordeaux in 1943 (where he would, in 1948, found the Institut d'Études Politiques as its first director).