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

Lesueur, 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 Lesueur surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lesueur in America

Lesueur is the 21483rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lesueur surname appeared 1,216 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Lesueur.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lesueur 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 Lesueur

The surname LESUEUR has its origins in France, where it first emerged in the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old French words "le" meaning "the" and "sueur" meaning "sister". The name was initially given as a descriptive nickname to someone who had a close relationship with a nun or a member of a religious sisterhood.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the 13th century cartulary of the Abbey of Fontevraud, where a certain Jehan Lesueur is mentioned as a tenant farmer. This suggests that the name was already in use by the 1200s in the regions surrounding the abbey, located in the modern-day department of Maine-et-Loire.

In the 14th century, the name appears in various legal documents and tax rolls from the northern French regions of Normandy and Picardy. For example, a Jehan Lesueur is listed as a property owner in the village of Argences, near Caen, in 1367.

Over time, the name underwent various spelling variations, such as Le Sueur, Lessueur, and Lesueure, reflecting the diverse regional dialects and scribal practices of medieval France.

One notable historical figure bearing this surname was Eustache Lesueur (c. 1616-1655), a French painter and engraver from Paris. He is best known for his religious works, including the frescoes he created for the Chartreuse de Paris monastery.

Another individual of note was Pierre Lesueur (1737-1806), a French composer and music theorist who served as the music director at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris during the latter part of the 18th century.

In the 19th century, the name Lesueur gained further prominence with the French explorer and naturalist Charles-Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846), who accompanied the Baudin expedition to Australia and the Pacific in the early 1800s.

Across the English Channel, the name also took root in Britain, where it was sometimes anglicized as "Lesoeur" or "Lesure". One early bearer was William Lesoeur, a merchant from London who is mentioned in records from the 1630s.

Other notable figures include the English architect Thomas Lesure (1705-1783), who designed several churches and country houses in the Georgian style, and the French-born British painter James Lesure (1808-1876), known for his landscapes and genre scenes.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lesueur

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

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

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

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