The inhabitants of the commune are known as Buxois or Buxoises.[4]
Geography
Bauquay is located some 6 km south by south-east of Villers-Bocage just north-west of Aunay-sur-Odon. Access to the commune is by the D8 road from Aunay-sur-Odon which passes through the length of the commune and the village and continues north-east to Évrecy. Apart from the village there are the hamlets of Le Vloquier and Les Perquettes. The commune is entirely farmland.[5][6]
The Odon river forms the south-western border of the commune as it flows north to eventually join the Orne at Caen. The Douvette river forms the eastern border of the commune as it flows north then north-west to join the Odon near Longvillers.[5][6]
The name of the locality was attested as Balcheium in 1082[7] The toponym comes from the Gallicbalc, meaning "clay", which gave the old French bauche with the same meaning. The place used to supply clay for construction.[8]
Bauquay appears as Beaugnay on the 1750 Cassini Map[9] and the same on the 1790 version.[10]
^Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, Etymological Dictionary of place names in France, Larousse, Paris, 1963 (in French)
^René Lepelley, Etymological Dictionary of names of communes in Normandy, Éditions Charles Corlet, Condé-sur-Noireau, 1996, BnF 36174448w p. 59 (in French)
