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

Paquette, 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 Paquette surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Paquette in America

Paquette is the 3699th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Paquette surname appeared 9,606 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 Paquette.

We can also compare 2010 data for Paquette 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 Paquette

The surname Paquette is of French origin, deriving from the Old French word "pasque," which means Easter. It is believed to have originated in the 12th or 13th century as a nickname for someone born or baptized during the Easter season.

The name Paquette was initially found in the northern regions of France, particularly in Normandy and Picardy. It later spread to other parts of the country as people migrated. Some early variations of the spelling included Pasquet, Pascault, and Pasquette.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Paquette can be found in the Calendrier de Cambrai, a 13th-century manuscript from the city of Cambrai in northern France. The document mentions a "Jehan Paquette" who was a local resident at the time.

In the 14th century, the name Paquette appeared in the records of the Parisian tax rolls, indicating that members of the family had established themselves in the capital city. One notable bearer of the name during this period was Guillaume Paquette, a merchant and landowner who lived in Paris between 1350 and 1420.

As the name spread across France, it also found its way to the French colonies in North America. One of the earliest recorded Paquettes in Canada was Jacques Paquette, who was born in 1632 in the settlement of Trois-Rivières. His descendants went on to establish branches of the family throughout Quebec and other parts of Canada.

Another notable figure in history with the surname Paquette was Pierre-Marguerite Paquette, a French-Canadian explorer and fur trader who lived from 1698 to 1774. He was instrumental in the early exploration and mapping of the Great Lakes region and contributed significantly to the expansion of the fur trade in what is now western Ontario and the American Midwest.

In the 19th century, a French politician and journalist named Adolphe Paquette gained prominence for his role in the Paris Commune of 1871. He was born in 1831 and played an active part in the revolutionary government that briefly ruled Paris before being suppressed by the French national authorities.

While the surname Paquette is most commonly associated with France and French-speaking regions, it has also been adopted by families in other parts of the world, particularly in areas with a significant French cultural influence or history of French settlement.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Paquette

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

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

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

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