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

Comeau, 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 Comeau surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Comeau in America

Comeau is the 6115th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Comeau surname appeared 5,609 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Comeau.

We can also compare 2010 data for Comeau 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 Comeau

The surname Comeau originated in France, specifically in the region of Poitou-Charentes in the west-central part of the country. It first appeared during the 12th century and is derived from the Old French word "comeau," which means a small valley or hollow.

The earliest recorded mention of the name Comeau can be found in a document from the Vienne region, dated 1187. It referred to a landowner named Pierre Comeau who owned a small parcel of land near a valley. This suggests that the name was originally a topographic surname, describing the location where the bearer lived or worked.

Another early reference to the surname Comeau can be found in the Livre des Bourgeois de Gand, a record of the citizens of Ghent, Belgium, from the 13th century. In this document, there is an entry for a merchant named Jean Comeau, who hailed from the village of Comeau near Poitiers, France.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Comeau name began to spread across France and into neighboring regions. One notable bearer of the name was Jacques Comeau (1572-1649), a French mathematician and astronomer from Bordeaux. He published several works on celestial navigation and was a pioneer in the development of accurate nautical charts.

In the 18th century, the Comeau surname made its way to the Americas, with many bearers emigrating from France to French colonies in Canada and the Caribbean. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in North America is that of Pierre Comeau (1721-1799), a French settler who arrived in Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) in 1755.

Another prominent figure with the Comeau surname was Marguerite Comeau (1838-1922), a French-Canadian writer and educator from Quebec. She published several books on history and literature and was a strong advocate for women's education in the late 19th century.

Throughout history, the Comeau surname has been subject to various spelling variations, including Comaut, Comault, Comeau, Comeaux, and Commeaux. These variations were often due to regional dialects and the inconsistencies of record-keeping during earlier periods.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Comeau

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

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 Comeau 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 Comeau 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 Comeau was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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