Find out how popular the last name Boudreau is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Boudreau.

Boudreau, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Boudreau surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Boudreau in America

Boudreau is the 3534th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Boudreau surname appeared 10,103 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Boudreau.

We can also compare 2010 data for Boudreau to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Boudreau

The surname Boudreau has its origins in France, specifically in the Brittany region. It is believed to have emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. The name is derived from the Old French word "boudre," which means "mud" or "swamp." This suggests that the earliest bearers of the name may have lived or worked in marshy or swampy areas.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Boudreau can be found in a document from the year 1288, where a person named Jehan Boudreaux is mentioned. This document is part of the archives of the Duchy of Brittany. Other early spellings of the name include Boudreault, Boudreaulx, and Boudreaulxe.

In the 16th century, a notable individual named Pierre Boudreau (1520-1589) was a merchant and ship owner from the port city of Saint-Malo in Brittany. He was known for his successful trading voyages to the Americas and the West Indies.

During the 17th century, many French settlers bearing the surname Boudreau arrived in the Canadian province of Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia and parts of New Brunswick). One of the earliest recorded Acadians with this name was Pierre Boudreau (1622-1701), who settled in the area around Grand Pré in 1671.

Another significant figure was Jean-Baptiste Boudreau (1715-1798), a prominent Acadian farmer and militia officer who played a role in the resistance against the British during the Acadian Expulsion of 1755-1763. His descendants can be found among the Acadian communities of eastern Canada and Louisiana today.

In the 19th century, Joseph-Norbert Boudreau (1832-1905) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and played a role in the establishment of the province's education system.

Lastly, Pierre Boudreau (1904-1989) was a French-Canadian writer and journalist from Quebec who was known for his novels and short stories depicting the lives of ordinary people in rural Quebec.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Boudreau

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Boudreau.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Boudreau was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Boudreau has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Boudreau was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Boudreau, please contact us.

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