 Another theory that Master of Wine Jancis Robinson puts forth is that the name Persan is a corruption of "Princens" which combined two words from the local dialect meaning "prin" (or prime) and "cens" (a fee due to landowners from their vassals).Records indicate in the 17th century there was a vineyard located in the small hamlet of Princens by Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne east of Grenoble that was highly regarded and could have been home to the "Princens" grape that late became known as Persan.The earliest mention of the name Persan itself occurred in 1846 when Albin Gras, then secretary of the Statistical Society of Isère and a board member for the Agricultural Society of Grenoble noted plantings of the variety in the Isère department.