 The Girards were a large family and its Nantes branch added Leduc to its name, taken from its place of origin Arnay-le-Duc.From then on all of the Girards of this branch were known as Girard-Leduc, and often, for the sake of simplification in business, just Leduc.Alphonse Leduc, teacher, composer, student and flute, guitar and bassoon pupil of Anton Reicha in Paris, was born in Nantes in 1804 and died in Paris in 1868.