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

Malebranche, 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 Malebranche surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Malebranche in America

Malebranche is the 93125th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Malebranche surname appeared 197 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 Malebranche.

We can also compare 2010 data for Malebranche 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 Malebranche

The surname MALEBRANCHE is of French origin, originating in the 12th century. It is derived from the Old French words "mal" meaning "bad" and "branche" meaning "branch", possibly referring to someone who lived near a withered or deformed tree branch.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name MALEBRANCHE can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholders in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This suggests that the name may have been brought to England by Norman settlers after the Norman conquest.

During the Middle Ages, the name MALEBRANCHE was found primarily in the regions of Normandy and Brittany in northern France. Some variations in spelling included Malebranch, Mallebranch, and Malbranch.

A notable figure with the surname MALEBRANCHE was Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715), a French philosopher and Cartesian thinker. He was one of the leading rationalist metaphysicians of the 17th century and made significant contributions to the theory of vision and the mind-body problem.

Another prominent individual with this name was André Malebranche (1708-1777), a French botanist and naturalist who conducted extensive research on the flora of the West Indies. He is considered one of the founders of Caribbean botany.

In the 19th century, Louis-Antoine-François Malebranche (1813-1888) was a French politician and lawyer who served as a member of the National Assembly and the Senate.

The name MALEBRANCHE can also be found in historical records related to the French colonization of the Americas. Jean-Baptiste Malebranche (1638-1711) was a French Jesuit missionary who worked among the Indigenous peoples of Canada and authored a dictionary of the Illinois language.

Additionally, Pierre Malebranche (1759-1837) was a French military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War, fighting alongside the Continental Army against the British forces.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Malebranche

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

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

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

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