Louie last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Louie

French surname derived from the given name Louis, meaning "renowned warrior."

Louie, 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 Louie surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Louie in America

Louie is the 4175th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Louie surname appeared 8,485 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 Louie.

We can also compare 2010 data for Louie 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 4175 4046 3.14%
Count 8,485 8,071 5.00%
Proportion per 100k 2.88 2.99 -3.75%

The history of the last name Louie

The surname Louie has its origins in France, tracing back to the early medieval period around the 9th century. It is believed to have evolved from the French personal name Louis, which is derived from the Old Frankish name Hludwig or Chlodovech. This name is composed of the Germanic elements "hlud" meaning "famous" and "wig" meaning "battle" or "warrior."

One of the earliest records of the name Louie can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. In this document, the name appears as "Lodowicus," a Latinized version of the name.

The surname Louie began to gain prominence in the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in the regions of Normandy and Brittany in France. During this time, it was often associated with noble families and landowners, suggesting its prominence within the aristocracy.

One notable figure bearing the surname Louie was Jean Louie, a French nobleman and military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War against the English in the 14th century. He was born around 1320 and played a significant role in several battles, including the Battle of Crécy in 1346.

Another prominent individual was Pierre Louie, a French explorer and cartographer who lived in the late 16th century. He is credited with mapping parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River in what is now eastern Canada.

In the 17th century, the surname Louie appeared in various spellings, such as Louy, Louye, and Louyet, reflecting regional variations in pronunciation and spelling conventions. One notable bearer of the name during this period was Michel Louie, a French philosopher and mathematician who contributed to the development of calculus and was a contemporary of René Descartes.

As the surname spread across Europe, it also found its way to the British Isles, where it was anglicized to Lewis or Louis. One famous example is Meriwether Lewis, the American explorer and co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early 19th century, who was born in 1774.

In the 20th century, the surname Louie gained recognition through individuals such as Joe Louie, an American musician and singer who was a prominent figure in the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s, and Louis L'Amour, an American novelist and short-story writer who was born in 1908 and is known for his works in the Western genre.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Louie

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

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 Louie was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 8.05% 683
Non-Hispanic Black Only 3.41% 289
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 78.63% 6,672
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.52% 129
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 5.62% 477
Hispanic Origin 2.77% 235

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 8.05% 8.17% -1.48%
Black 3.41% 3.42% -0.29%
Asian and Pacific Islander 78.63% 80.75% -2.66%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.52% 1.35% 11.85%
Two or More Races 5.62% 4.32% 26.16%
Hispanic 2.77% 1.99% 32.77%

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

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

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