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

Fortier, 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 Fortier surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fortier in America

Fortier is the 4649th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fortier surname appeared 7,634 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 Fortier.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fortier 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 Fortier

The surname Fortier originated in France and is derived from the Old French word "fort," meaning strong or fortified. It was likely an occupational name given to someone who lived near a fortress or worked as a guard or soldier in a fortified place.

Fortier is a common surname in the French-speaking regions of Canada, particularly in Quebec, where many French settlers arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries. The name can be traced back to the early days of French colonization in North America.

In France, the surname Fortier has been recorded as early as the 12th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Hugues Fortier, a knight who lived in Normandy in the late 12th century.

The Domesday Book, a survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, does not contain any entries for the surname Fortier, indicating that it was likely not present in England at that time.

Notable individuals with the surname Fortier include:

1. Jean Fortier (c. 1550 - c. 1620), a French colonist who was one of the first settlers in Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada).
2. Claude Fortier (1629 - 1708), a French-Canadian farmer and landowner in Quebec.
3. Théodore Fortier (1828 - 1899), a French-American writer and educator who founded the first French-language newspaper in Louisiana.
4. Émile Fortier (1836 - 1901), a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada.
5. Alcée Fortier (1856 - 1914), a French-American scholar and professor of Romance languages at Tulane University.

The surname Fortier has also been associated with various place names in France, such as Fortier-la-Gaillarde, a commune in the Yonne department, and Fortier-d'Auvergne, a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department. These place names may have influenced the spread and variations of the surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fortier

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

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

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

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