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

Lafrenière, 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 Lafrenière surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lafrenière in America

Lafrenière is the 13967th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lafrenière surname appeared 2,159 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 Lafrenière.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lafrenière 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 Lafrenière

The surname Lafreniere originated in France, specifically in the region of Normandy. It is thought to have emerged during the late Middle Ages, around the 13th or 14th century. The name is derived from the Old French words "la" meaning "the" and "freniere" meaning "ash tree," suggesting that the name initially referred to someone who lived near or by an ash tree.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lafreniere can be found in the Livre Terrien de Philippe d'Évreux, a medieval land registry from the late 13th century. This document mentions a certain "Richart de la Freniere," indicating that the name was already in use at that time. Additionally, the name appears in various other medieval records and documents from Normandy and neighboring regions.

In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the name Lafreniere was Jean Lafreniere, a merchant and landowner from the town of Lisieux in Normandy. He was born in 1523 and played an important role in the local economy and politics of the time.

During the 17th century, the Lafreniere family began to spread across different parts of France, with some members even emigrating to the French colonies in North America, particularly in what is now Quebec and Acadia. One of the earliest settlers in New France was Jacques Lafreniere, who arrived in Quebec City in 1634 and became a prominent figure in the colony's fur trade.

In the 18th century, a notable member of the Lafreniere family was Louis-Joseph Lafreniere, a French naval officer and explorer. He was born in Brest in 1728 and participated in several expeditions to the Pacific Ocean, including voyages to the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Northwest.

Another significant figure in the history of the Lafreniere name was François Lafreniere, a French Revolutionary who played an active role in the events of the French Revolution. Born in Paris in 1758, he was a member of the Jacobin Club and served as a deputy in the National Convention.

As the Lafreniere family continued to grow and spread throughout the centuries, the name also underwent some variations in spelling, such as Lafresniere, Lafrenaye, and Lafrenière. However, the core meaning and origin of the name remained the same, tracing back to the old Norman French words related to ash trees.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lafrenière

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!