Coordinates: 48°59′54″N 0°26′35″W / 48.9983°N 0.4431°W / 48.9983; -0.4431

Croisilles is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.

The French department of Calvados (pronounced: [kal.va.dos]) is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast. The pronunciation varies: in French the final 's' is not mute; in English usually Calvadoss with stress on the first syllable.

Calvados is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from a part of the former province of Normandy. The name "Orne inférieure" was originally proposed for the department, but it was ultimately decided to call the area Calvados.

Its etymology is most likely derived from the Salvador, a ship from the Spanish Armada that sank by the rocks near Arromanches-les-bains in 1588. However, others insist that the name Calvados was derived from calva dorsa, meaning bare backs, in reference to two sparsely vegetated rocks off its shore.

After the allied victory at Waterloo the department was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818.

Gérard Lenorman (born 9 February 1945) is a French singer.

Lenorman was born at the Château de Bénouville, Calvados (Normandy) when it was a maternity hospital. He is the son of Madeleine Lenormand and an unknown German soldier. Lenorman has four children: Mathieu, Justine, Clémence and Victor. He released his first album in 1969.

In 1988 he represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Ireland, reaching tenth place with Chanteur de charme. Lenorman was very popular in France and Francophonie, during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1994, a compilation of his hits went gold in France. In 2007, he released a biography entitled Je suis né à vingt ans ("I was born at the age of 20") in which the singer explains the unknown identity of his father.