Nicolas-Luton Durival (13 November 1713, in Commercy – 21 December 1795, in Heillecourt) was a Lorrain civil servant, historian and geographer who became French after 1766.
Having a good education, he was placed in the offices of the Intendance of the Duchy of Lorraine, and applied himself fully to acquire the knowledge necessary to an administrator.
Struck with the imperfection of the works that existed on the topography of Lorraine, he formed the project to write one that would depart from the drought classifications and the prolixity of particular stories, contain accurate records on cities, towns and villages of this country.
Durival was a member of the Académie de Nancy since 1760 and communicated to the company a lot of memories on objects of public utility.
Though he had occupied gainful employment for most of his life, he remained poor and was included in the number of scholars to which the Convention granted relief in 1795.