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

Nadeau, 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 Nadeau surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nadeau in America

Nadeau is the 2929th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nadeau surname appeared 12,236 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Nadeau.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nadeau 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 Nadeau

The surname Nadeau originated in France and is derived from the French word "nadeau" which means a small pond or pool of water. This name was likely given as a descriptive surname to someone who lived near a small body of water.

The earliest recorded examples of the Nadeau surname date back to the 17th century in the region of Poitou-Charentes in western France. Some of the earliest spellings of the name include Nadau, Nadeaux, and Naudeau.

In 1696, the name Nadeau appeared in a census record of the French colony of Acadia, which is now part of eastern Canada. This suggests that some of the earliest bearers of the Nadeau name were among the French settlers in North America.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Nadeau was Jacques Nadeau, who was born in 1635 in the town of Maillezais, Vendée, France. He later immigrated to Acadia and is considered one of the founding families of the Acadian people.

Another notable individual with the Nadeau surname was Pierre Nadeau, a French-Canadian painter who lived from 1742 to 1812. He is known for his religious paintings and portraits, many of which can be found in churches and museums throughout Quebec.

In the 19th century, Joseph Nadeau (1818-1892) was a prominent French-Canadian businessman and politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.

Émile Nadeau (1893-1981) was a French-Canadian lawyer and politician who served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada from 1940 to 1958.

Gilles Nadeau (born 1956) is a contemporary Canadian historian and author who has written extensively on the history and culture of the Acadian people.

Throughout its history, the Nadeau surname has been closely associated with the French-Canadian and Acadian communities, particularly in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nadeau

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Nadeau, 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!