title of the eldest son of a king of France, the heir apparent to the French crown, from 1350 to 1830. The title was established by the royal house of France through the purchase of lands known as the Dauphiné (q.v.) in 1349 by the future Charles V.

The title dauphin was derived from the personal name Dauphin that occurs in western Europe in various forms from the end of the 4th century. The first ruler of Viennois in southeastern France to bear this name was Guigues IV Dauphin in the 12th century; the name was borne so regularly by his successors that it came to be taken for a title peculiar to rulers of Viennois. By the end of the 13th century the titular use of the word was established, and the aggregate of fiefs held by the dauphins was called the delphinate, or Dauphiné. Charles of France, made dauphin of Viennois in 1349, became king of France in 1364 and granted Dauphiné to his son, the future Charles VI, in 1368, thus establishing the precedent whereby the French king's eldest son became dauphin.

The delphinate or Dauphiné d'Auvergne followed a similar development in Auvergne; it was held by the Montpensiers until 1693, when it passed to the French crown. From 1436 to 1693, in order to distinguish them, the dauphin heir to the French crown was occasionally called le roi dauphin (“king dauphin”) and the dauphin of Auvergne “le prince dauphin,” as the Montpensiers were French princes of the blood.