Camembert cheese was invented during the French Revolution when a certain Marie Harel combined a cheese-making technique used in Normandy with one used in the Brie region. Harel’s daughter began selling this new cheese in the village of Camembert, whose name was bestowed upon the dairy product when Napoleon rode through the village, tried some of the cheese, and declared it to be excellent. Centuries before this, the village of Camembert acquired its name thanks to its being located in a field owned by someone named Manberht. This personal name was combined with the Latin word for field—campus—and thus the compound campus Manberht was formed, gradually shortening to Camembert. Even further back, the personal name Manberht derived from a Germanic source meaning brilliant man just as Albert means noble brilliant, Robert means fame brilliant, and Egbert means sword brilliant. In a sense, therefore, Camembert literally means field of the brilliant man.