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

Poitier, 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 Poitier surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Poitier in America

Poitier is the 41359th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Poitier surname appeared 526 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 Poitier.

We can also compare 2010 data for Poitier 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 Poitier

The surname Poitier originates from the French region of Poitou, in the west-central part of the country. It emerged as a locational surname in the 12th century, denoting someone who hailed from the town or village of Poitiers, the capital of the Poitou region.

The name Poitiers itself derives from the Latin Pictavium, which was the Roman name for the area. Pictavium, in turn, is believed to have roots in the Gallic language spoken by the indigenous tribes of the region before Roman conquest and settlement.

One of the earliest known references to the surname Poitier can be found in the Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de Redon, a medieval manuscript from the 9th century, which mentions a certain "Rainaldus Pictaviensis" (Rainald of Poitiers).

In the 11th century, the famous Domesday Book, a survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror, records several individuals with the name Poitevin, a variant of Poitier.

A notable figure in history bearing the Poitier surname was Sir William Poitier, a 14th-century English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War between England and France. He was born around 1320 and died in 1396.

Another prominent individual with this surname was Jacques Poitier, a French lawyer and political philosopher who lived from 1546 to 1616. He was a vocal advocate for religious tolerance and freedom of conscience during the Wars of Religion in France.

In the 18th century, Marie-Isabelle Poitier was a French botanist and illustrator, born in 1720 and died in 1799. She is renowned for her beautiful illustrations of plants and flowers, which were published in several botanical works of her time.

Moving to the 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Poitier was a French architect and engineer, born in 1818 and died in 1897. He was responsible for designing several notable buildings and infrastructure projects in Paris and other French cities.

Finally, one of the most famous individuals with the Poitier surname is Sir Sidney Poitier, the acclaimed Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat. Born in 1927, he was the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964 for his role in the film "Lilies of the Field."

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Poitier

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

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

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

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