name: A surname (rare: 1 in 50000 families; popularity rank in the U.S.: #5863)
noun: A surname from French [in turn originating as an occupation], famously held by:
noun: Charles Messier (1730-1817), a French astronomer who between 1774 and 1781 published his Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters, a catalogue of deep-sky objects.