 Persecution of Protestants officially ended with the Edict of Versailles, signed by Louis XVI in 1787.Two years later, with the Revolutionary Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, Protestants gained equal rights as citizens.<ref name="Aston, 2000 pp 245-50">Aston, "Religion and Revolution in France, 1780–1804" (2000) pp 245–50</ref>

A term used originally in derision, "Huguenot" has unclear origins.Various hypotheses have been promoted.