lastnamegenerators

French Last Names

This list of French last names covers hundreds of real family names from France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec, with the meaning of each. Most began as a first name, a trade, a place or a nickname, and many are easy to read in modern French.

300 real surnames with meanings, A to Z.

A

  • Adam

    From the given name Adam

  • Allard

    Noble and brave

  • Amiel

    From Latin Aemilius, rival

  • André

    From the given name Andrew, manly

  • Arnaud

    Eagle power, from Germanic roots

  • Aubert

    Noble and bright, from Albert

  • Aubry

    Elf ruler, from Germanic Alberic

  • Auclair

    Possibly from Clair, bright or clear

B

  • Bailly

    Bailiff, steward of a manor

  • Barbier

    Barber, also a surgeon in medieval times

  • Baron

    Baron, or nickname for a haughty person

  • Barré

    Striped, or dweller by a barrier

  • Basset

    Short, of low stature

  • Baudelaire

    Possibly from a type of short sword

  • Baumann

    Alsatian origin, farmer or builder

  • Beauchamp

    Beautiful field, habitational name

  • Beaudoin

    Bold friend, from Germanic Baldwin

  • Beaulieu

    Beautiful place

  • Beaumont

    Beautiful hill

  • Beauregard

    Beautiful view, fine appearance

  • Bélanger

    Possibly from Berengar, bear spear

  • Bellamy

    Fine friend, from bel ami

  • Benoît

    Blessed, from Benedict

  • Berger

    Shepherd

  • Bergeron

    Little shepherd, diminutive of berger

  • Bernard

    Brave as a bear, from Germanic elements

  • Bertin

    Diminutive of a Germanic name meaning bright

  • Bertrand

    Bright raven, from Germanic roots

  • Besson

    Twin, from Occitan

  • Blanc

    White, fair-haired or pale

  • Blanchard

    Whitish, fair-haired

  • Boisvert

    Green wood, dweller by a wood

  • Bonhomme

    Good man, worthy fellow

  • Bonnefoy

    Good faith, a trustworthy person

  • Bonnet

    Maker or wearer of bonnets, or from Bonitus

  • Bouchard

    From Germanic Burchard, fortress + hardy, or bouche, mouth

  • Boucher

    Butcher

  • Bouchet

    Small wood or thicket

  • Boulanger

    Baker, maker of bread

  • Bourgeois

    Townsman, citizen of a borough

  • Bousquet

    Small wood or thicket, Occitan

  • Bouvier

    Oxherd, cattle driver

  • Boyer

    Cattle herder, oxherd

  • Breton

    Person from Brittany

  • Brossard

    Maker of brushes, or a brushy place

  • Brun

    Brown-haired or brown-skinned

  • Brunet

    Little brown one, brown-haired

C

  • Cadieux

    Possibly diminutive of a Germanic name

  • Caron

    Cartwright, or from a place named Caron

  • Carpentier

    Carpenter, northern French form

  • Carré

    Square-built, stocky person

  • Casanova

    Corsican and Italian, new house

  • Cazenave

    New house, Gascon

  • Chapuis

    Carpenter, from Old French chapuiser, to hew wood

  • Charles

    From the given name Charles, free man

  • Charpentier

    Carpenter

  • Chartier

    Carter, cart driver

  • Chateaubriand

    Habitational name from a castle town in Brittany

  • Chauvin

    Bald, diminutive of chauve

  • Chevalier

    Knight, horseman

  • Chevrolet

    Possibly little goat, for a goatherd

  • Clément

    Merciful, gentle

  • Colin

    Diminutive of Nicolas

  • Collet

    Diminutive of Nicolas

  • Colonna

    Corsican name meaning column

  • Cordier

    Rope maker, cord seller

  • Côté

    Dweller on a hillside

  • Cousin

    Kinsman, cousin, a relative

  • Cousineau

    Little cousin

D

  • Daniel

    From the given name Daniel, God is my judge

  • David

    From the given name David, beloved

  • Delacroix

    From the cross

  • Delaunay

    From the alder grove

  • Delmas

    From the farmstead, Occitan

  • Delorme

    Dweller by an elm tree

  • Denis

    From Dionysius, devoted to the god of wine

  • Descartes

    Possibly from a place called Les Cartes

  • Deschamps

    From the fields

  • Deslauriers

    From the laurel trees

  • Desrosiers

    From the rose bushes

  • Devaux

    From the valleys

  • Devereux

    From Évreux in Normandy

  • Didier

    From Latin Desiderius, longed for

  • Dijoux

    Réunion name, possibly from a place name

  • Dubois

    From the woods

  • Dubreuil

    From the enclosed wood

  • Duchamp

    From the field

  • Dufour

    From the oven, baker

  • Duhamel

    From the hamlet, Norman

  • Dulac

    From the lake

  • Dumas

    From the farmstead

  • Dumont

    From the mountain

  • Dupont

    From the bridge

  • Dupré

    From the meadow

  • Dupuis

    From the well

  • Dupuy

    From the hill or high place, Occitan puy

  • Durand

    Enduring, steadfast

  • Duval

    From the valley

E

  • Étienne

    From the given name Stephen, crown

F

  • Fabre

    Smith, from Occitan fabre

  • Faure

    Smith, from Occitan faure

  • Fernandez

    Spanish origin, son of Fernando

  • Fischer

    Alsatian origin, fisherman

  • Fleury

    From a place named for flowers

  • Fontaine

    Dweller near a spring or fountain

  • Fortin

    Little strong one

  • Foucault

    Germanic name meaning people bold

  • Fourcade

    Fork in a road or river, Gascon

  • Fournier

    Baker, keeper of the communal oven

  • François

    Frenchman, from the given name Francis

G

  • Gagné

    Farmer, from gagner, to cultivate

  • Gagnon

    Guard dog, nickname for an aggressive person

  • Gaillard

    Lively, bold, vigorous

  • Le Gall

    Breton for the Frenchman or foreigner

  • Garcia

    Spanish origin, now among the most common surnames in France

  • Garnier

    Keeper of the granary, or from Warinhari

  • Gaudin

    From Germanic Waldo, ruler

  • Gauthier

    Ruler of the army, from Germanic roots

  • Gautier

    Ruler of the army, variant of Gauthier

  • Gay

    Cheerful, merry, light-hearted

  • Gérard

    Brave with the spear

  • Germain

    Brother, or from the given name Germain

  • Gilbert

    Bright pledge, from Germanic roots

  • Girard

    Brave with the spear, from Germanic roots

  • Giraud

    Brave with the spear, variant of Gerald

  • Godard

    Germanic name meaning God brave

  • Le Goff

    Breton for the smith

  • Grondin

    Réunion name, from the gurnard fish

  • Grosjean

    Big John

  • Guégan

    Breton name meaning fighter

  • Guérin

    Guard, protector, from Germanic warin

  • Guichard

    From Germanic Wighard, battle + hardy

  • Guilbert

    Bright pledge, Norman form of Gilbert

  • Guillaume

    From the given name William, resolute protector

  • Guillot

    Diminutive of Guillaume, William

  • Guyot

    Diminutive of Guy, from Germanic wido, wood

H

  • Hamon

    Breton, from Germanic haim meaning home

  • Hébert

    Bright army, from Germanic roots

  • Henry

    Home ruler, from the given name Henri

  • Hervé

    Breton given name meaning battle worthy

  • Hoarau

    Réunion name, possibly from a Norman personal name

  • Hoffmann

    Alsatian origin, steward of a manor

  • Hubert

    Bright heart or mind

  • Huet

    Diminutive of Hugues, heart or mind

  • Humbert

    From Germanic Hunberht, bright warrior

J

  • Jacob

    From the given name Jacob, supplanter

  • Jacques

    From the given name James, supplanter

  • Jacquet

    Little Jacques

  • Jean

    From the given name John, God is gracious

  • Jégou

    Breton name, possibly from Judicaël

  • Joly

    Cheerful, pretty

  • Joubert

    From a Germanic personal name ending in -bert, bright

  • Jourdan

    From the River Jordan, Occitan form

  • Julien

    From the given name Julian, youthful

K

  • Keller

    Alsatian origin, cellar master

  • Kermarrec

    Breton, from ker, village + marreg, knight

  • Kerouac

    Breton habitational name from a place in Cornouaille

  • Klein

    Alsatian origin, small

  • Kuhn

    Alsatian origin, from Konrad, bold

L

  • Labat

    The abbot, Gascon form

  • Laborde

    Dweller at a small farm, Gascon

  • Lachance

    Luck, nickname for a fortunate person

  • Lachapelle

    Dweller near the chapel

  • Lacombe

    Dweller in a small valley or hollow

  • Lacoste

    Dweller on the hillside or coast

  • Lacour

    Dweller at the courtyard or manor court

  • Lacroix

    Dweller near a cross

  • Lafayette

    Dweller by a small beech grove

  • Lafitte

    Dweller by a boundary stone, Gascon

  • Lafleur

    The flower, a soldier's nickname

  • Lafont

    Dweller by a spring, Occitan

  • Lagarde

    Dweller near a watchtower or guard post

  • Lambert

    Bright land, from Germanic roots

  • Lamontagne

    From the mountain

  • Lamy

    The friend, a companion

  • Langlois

    The Englishman, from England

  • Lapointe

    Dweller at the point of land

  • Laporte

    Dweller by the town gate

  • Larivière

    From the river

  • Laurent

    From Latin Laurentius, man from Laurentum

  • Leblanc

    The white, fair-haired one

  • Lebon

    The good one

  • Lebreton

    The Breton, from Brittany

  • Lebrun

    The brown-haired one

  • Leclerc

    The clerk, scholar or cleric

  • Leclercq

    The clerk, northern spelling of Leclerc

  • Lecomte

    The count, or servant of a count

  • Leconte

    The count, variant of Lecomte

  • Leduc

    The duke, or servant of a duke

  • Lefebvre

    The smith, ironworker

  • Lefèvre

    The smith, variant of Lefebvre

  • Lefort

    The strong one

  • Legendre

    The son-in-law, a kinship name

  • Léger

    Light, nimble, or from Saint Léger

  • Legrand

    The tall one

  • Lejeune

    The young one

  • Lemaire

    The mayor, village headman

  • Lemoine

    The monk

  • Lenoir

    The black, dark-haired one

  • Leroux

    The red-haired one

  • Leroy

    The king, nickname or servant of the king

  • Lesage

    The wise one

  • Lévesque

    The bishop

  • Lévy

    From the Hebrew tribe of Levi

  • Loiseau

    The bird, a nickname

  • Lopez

    Spanish origin, son of Lope

  • Louis

    From the given name Louis, famous warrior

  • Lucas

    From the given name Luke, from Lucania

M

  • Maillard

    From a Germanic name, or a mallet maker

  • Mallet

    Hammer maker, or diminutive of Malo

  • Marchal

    Marshal, farrier, or horse servant

  • Marchand

    Merchant, trader

  • Marie

    From the given name Mary

  • Marion

    Diminutive of Marie

  • Martel

    Hammer, a smith or a fighter

  • Martin

    From the Roman name Martinus, of Mars

  • Martinez

    Spanish origin, son of Martín

  • Marty

    Occitan form of Martin

  • Masson

    Stonemason

  • Mathieu

    From the given name Matthew, gift of God

  • Maurice

    From the given name Maurice, Moorish

  • Ménard

    Strong and brave, from Germanic Maginhard

  • Mercier

    Merchant, haberdasher

  • Merle

    Blackbird, a singer or cheerful person

  • Meunier

    Miller

  • Meyer

    Alsatian origin, steward or farmer

  • Michaud

    Diminutive of Michel

  • Michel

    From the given name Michael, who is like God

  • Millet

    Diminutive of Émile, or a millet grower

  • Monnier

    Miller, or a minter of coins

  • Moreau

    Dark-skinned or dark-haired, from Moor

  • Morel

    Dark-complexioned, diminutive of Moor

  • Morin

    Dark, diminutive of Moor

  • Moulin

    Dweller by a mill, a miller

  • Muller

    Miller, Alsatian origin

N

  • Nguyen

    Vietnamese origin, now common in France

  • Nicolas

    Victory of the people

  • Noël

    Born at Christmas

  • Normand

    Person from Normandy, Norseman

O

  • Olivier

    Olive tree, from the given name Oliver

P

  • Pagès

    Occitan for peasant farmer

  • Paris

    From the city of Paris, or from Patricius

  • Pascal

    Born at Easter

  • Pasquier

    Pasture, or born at Easter

  • Paul

    From the given name Paul, small

  • Payet

    Réunion name, possibly a diminutive of Paul

  • Pelletier

    Furrier, maker of fur garments

  • Perez

    Spanish origin, son of Pedro

  • Perret

    Diminutive of Pierre

  • Perrier

    Quarryman, or dweller by a pear tree

  • Perrin

    Little Pierre, diminutive of Peter

  • Perrot

    Diminutive of Pierre, Peter

  • Petit

    Small, nickname for a short person

  • Philippe

    Lover of horses

  • Picard

    Person from Picardy

  • Pichon

    Little one, from Occitan pichon

  • Pierre

    From the given name Peter, rock

  • Pineau

    Little pine, dweller near pines

  • Poirier

    Dweller near a pear tree

  • Poulain

    Foal, colt, a lively young person

  • Prévost

    Provost, official

  • Pujol

    Occitan for small hill

R

  • Raymond

    Counsel and protection, from Germanic roots

  • Rémy

    From Saint Remigius, oarsman

  • Renard

    Fox, nickname for a cunning person

  • Renaud

    Counsel and rule, from Germanic roots

  • Renault

    Variant of Renaud, counsel and rule

  • Rey

    King, Occitan form of Roy

  • Richard

    Strong ruler, from Germanic roots

  • Rivière

    Dweller by the river

  • Robert

    Bright fame, from Germanic roots

  • Robin

    Diminutive of Robert

  • Roche

    Dweller by a rock or crag

  • Rocher

    Dweller by a rock or crag

  • Roger

    Famous spear, from Germanic roots

  • Rolland

    Famous land, from Germanic roots

  • Rousseau

    Little red-haired one

  • Roussel

    Little red one, red-haired

  • Roux

    Red-haired, nickname

  • Le Roux

    Breton form, the red-haired one

  • Roy

    King, nickname or servant of the king

  • Royer

    Wheelwright, maker of wheels

S

  • Sabatier

    Shoemaker, from Occitan

  • Sanchez

    Spanish origin, son of Sancho

  • Schmitt

    Alsatian origin, smith

  • Schneider

    Alsatian origin, tailor

  • Simon

    From the given name Simon, he has heard

T

  • Tanguy

    Breton given name, fire dog, a warrior

  • Tessier

    Weaver

  • Texier

    Weaver, variant of Tessier

  • Thibault

    Bold people, from Theobald

  • Thierry

    Ruler of the people, from Theodoric

  • Thomas

    From the given name Thomas, meaning twin

V

  • Valentin

    From Latin Valentinus, strong

  • Vallet

    Valet, servant, or from a small valley

  • Verdier

    Forest warden, or a greenfinch

  • Vidal

    Vital, full of life, from Latin

  • Vincent

    Conquering, from Latin Vincentius

  • Voisin

    Neighbour, one living nearby

W

  • Wagner

    Alsatian origin, wagon maker

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Results (6)

  • Caron

    Cartwright, or from a place named Caron

  • Girard

    Brave with the spear, from Germanic roots

  • Marie

    From the given name Mary

  • Lagarde

    Dweller near a watchtower or guard post

  • Sabatier

    Shoemaker, from Occitan

  • Lecomte

    The count, or servant of a count

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    Four sources of French surnames

    French surnames fall into four broad groups. The largest comes from first names, because a father's given name often became the family name: Martin, Bernard, Thomas, Robert, Richard and Laurent all rank among the most frequent names in France. The second group describes a trade. Lefebvre and Fabre mean smith, Boulanger baker, Mercier merchant, Charpentier carpenter and Meunier miller. These names are easy to spot once you know a little French.

    The third group points to a place or landscape. Dubois means of the wood, Dupont of the bridge, Fontaine fountain, Duval of the valley and Laroche of the rock. The fourth group grew out of nicknames for looks or character: Petit (small), Legrand (the tall one), Leroux and Rousseau (red-haired), Moreau (dark, possibly from a word for Moor) and Lebon (the good). Articles such as Le, La, Du and Des are often fused into the name, which is why so many French surnames start with L or D.

    Regional French last names, from Brittany to Quebec

    France has several regional languages, and they show in its surnames. Breton names often begin with Le or Ker, as in Le Gall (the foreigner, or the Frenchman), Le Goff (the smith) and Kerguelen, from ker, a village or farmstead. Alsace and Lorraine have German-shaped names like Muller, Schmitt and Meyer, usually written without the umlaut. In the south, Occitan forms appear, such as Fabre and Faure for smith, and the Basque country adds names like Etcheverry, meaning new house.

    French settlers took their names to Canada in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and because the founding population was small, a few surnames dominate Quebec today. Tremblay, Gagnon, Roy, Côté, Bouchard and Gauthier are all very common there. Acadians expelled from Nova Scotia from 1755 onward carried names such as Boudreau, Thibodeau and LeBlanc to Louisiana, where spellings shifted to Boudreaux and Thibodeaux, forming the heart of Cajun family names.

    How French last names became fixed

    Surnames became hereditary in France gradually from the twelfth century, first among nobles and townspeople. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539 required parish priests to record baptisms, which helped fix names in writing. After the Revolution, a law of 1794 forbade anyone from using a name other than the one on their birth record, so changes since then have needed official approval. A common myth is that de marks nobility. Often it does not, since de simply means of or from.

    Since 2005, French parents can give a child the father's surname, the mother's, or both joined together, and a 2022 law made it easier for adults to switch to or add a parent's name. For writers, the list above makes it simple to match a surname to a setting. A Parisian bank clerk named Petit, a Breton fisherman named Le Goff and a Montreal hockey player named Tremblay each feel grounded without any explanation.

    Frequently asked questions

    Which French last names are the most common?

    Martin is the most common surname in France, followed by Bernard, Thomas, Petit, Robert, Richard, Durand, Dubois, Moreau and Laurent. Most of them come from medieval first names, with a few nicknames and place names mixed in.

    Does de in French surnames mean the family is noble?

    Not necessarily. De means of or from and appears in many ordinary names that describe a place. Some noble families did use it, and in the nineteenth century some middle-class families added it to look grander, but a particle alone proves nothing about ancestry.

    Why do French names in Louisiana end in -eaux?

    Acadian families deported from Nova Scotia in the eighteenth century settled in Louisiana, and clerks there often wrote the -eau ending as -eaux. Boudreau became Boudreaux and Thibodeau became Thibodeaux. These spellings are now a clear mark of Cajun heritage.

    How do you pronounce names that end in -ault or -ier?

    The final letters are usually silent. Renault sounds like reh-NOH, Perrault like peh-ROH and Mercier like mehr-SYAY. A useful rule is that a final t, d, s or x is rarely spoken, while an ending like -ier sounds close to yay.

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