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

Phaneuf, 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 Phaneuf surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Phaneuf in America

Phaneuf is the 16509th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Phaneuf surname appeared 1,740 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Phaneuf.

We can also compare 2010 data for Phaneuf 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 Phaneuf

The surname Phaneuf is of French origin, deriving from the Old French word "fanuef" which means "fennel". It is believed to have originated in the northern regions of France, particularly in Normandy, during the 12th century.

The name was likely initially given as a descriptive surname to individuals who resided near fennel fields or were involved in the cultivation or trade of the aromatic herb. Over time, the spelling evolved from "fanuef" to its modern form, "Phaneuf".

One of the earliest recorded references to the name Phaneuf can be found in the Livre des Bourgeois de Rouen, a medieval document from the city of Rouen in Normandy, dating back to the 13th century. This document mentions a certain "Jehan Phaneuf" who was a merchant in the city.

During the 16th century, the name appears in various records in the provinces of Normandy and Brittany. For instance, Jacques Phaneuf, born in 1542 in Rouen, was a notable merchant and trader of spices and herbs.

The name Phaneuf also found its way across the Atlantic Ocean to New France (present-day Quebec, Canada) during the 17th century. One of the earliest documented individuals with this surname in the New World was Pierre Phaneuf, who arrived in Quebec in 1665 from the village of Tourouvre in Normandy.

Another notable figure in history bearing the surname Phaneuf was François Phaneuf, a French-Canadian soldier and explorer born in 1683. He played a significant role in the exploration and mapping of the Great Lakes region during the early 18th century.

In the 19th century, Louis-Philippe Phaneuf, born in 1812 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, was a prominent lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada.

The Phaneuf surname has also been associated with several places in France, such as the commune of Phaneuf in the department of Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany. This place name is believed to have derived from the same Old French word "fanuef" and may have contributed to the development of the surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Phaneuf

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

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

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

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