Dufrene last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Dufrene

French occupational surname referring to someone who gathered or sold ash wood, derived from Old French "fraisne" meaning "ash tree".

Dufrene, 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 Dufrene surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dufrene in America

Dufrene is the 10339th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dufrene surname appeared 3,115 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Dufrene.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dufrene 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 10339 9798 5.37%
Count 3,115 3,047 2.21%
Proportion per 100k 1.06 1.13 -6.39%

The history of the last name Dufrene

The surname DUFRENE originated in France during the late medieval period. It is derived from the Old French words 'du' meaning 'of the' and 'frene' meaning 'ash tree'. The name likely referred to someone who lived near an ash tree or in an area known for its abundance of ash trees.

DUFRENE was particularly common in the northern regions of France, especially Normandy and the surrounding areas. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in parish records and tax rolls from the 13th and 14th centuries in these regions.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Jehan Dufrene, a Norman landowner mentioned in the Livre des Bourgeois de Rouen, a census of the city's inhabitants, in 1292. Another early record is that of Guillaume Dufrene, a merchant from Caen mentioned in a trade document from 1314.

In the 15th century, the name appears in various records across northern France, including the Livre des Bourgeois de Gournay, a census of the town of Gournay-en-Bray, where several families with the surname DUFRENE are listed.

During the Renaissance period, the name gained some prominence with the birth of François Dufrene (1495-1568), a French lawyer and magistrate who served as a counselor in the Parlement of Paris.

Another notable bearer of the name was Jacques Dufrene (1639-1724), a French Benedictine monk and scholar who authored several theological works and served as the prior of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris.

In the 18th century, the name was carried by Jacques-Philippe Dufrene (1729-1804), a French architect and urban planner who designed several notable buildings in Paris, including the Théâtre des Variétés and the Église Saint-Philippe-du-Roule.

As the name spread throughout France and into other regions, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Dufresne, Dufrène, and Dufrayne, but the core form of DUFRENE remained prevalent.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dufrene

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

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 Dufrene was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 93.58% 2,915
Non-Hispanic Black Only 2.63% 82
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.35% 11
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.28% 40
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.03% 32
Hispanic Origin 1.12% 35

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 Dufrene has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 93.58% 94.95% -1.45%
Black 2.63% 1.94% 30.20%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.35% 0.20% 54.55%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.28% 1.31% -2.32%
Two or More Races 1.03% 0.79% 26.37%
Hispanic 1.12% 0.82% 30.93%

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

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

Reference this page

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"Dufrene last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/dufrene-surname-popularity/.

"Dufrene last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/dufrene-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

Dufrene last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/dufrene-surname-popularity/.

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