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

Pomerleau, 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 Pomerleau surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pomerleau in America

Pomerleau is the 17111th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pomerleau surname appeared 1,658 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 Pomerleau.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pomerleau 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 Pomerleau

The surname Pomerleau is of French origin, originating in the Normandy region of northern France. It emerged in the late medieval period, likely around the 13th or 14th century. The name is derived from the Old French words "pomer," meaning apple, and "leau," a diminutive suffix indicating a small orchard or grove.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pomerleau can be found in a land registry from the village of Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf, near Rouen, dated 1387. This document mentions a certain "Jehan Pomerleau," suggesting the name was already established by that time.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, several Pomerleau families were documented in the parish records of various Norman villages, such as Vieux-Manoir and Bourg-Achard. Notable individuals from this period include Jacques Pomerleau (c. 1525-1602), a farmer and landowner in Bourg-Achard, and Marie Pomerleau (1658-1730), who married into the prominent Le Boucher family of Rouen.

As the name spread across France, it also found its way to the French colonies of North America, particularly in what is now the province of Quebec, Canada. One of the earliest recorded Pomerleau settlers was Jacques Pomerleau, who arrived in Quebec City in 1665 from the village of Tourouvre in Normandy.

In the 18th century, several notable individuals bearing the Pomerleau name emerged in Quebec, including Pierre Pomerleau (1712-1788), a merchant and landowner in Trois-Rivières, and Marie-Anne Pomerleau (1745-1823), a philanthropist and benefactor of the Ursuline convent in Quebec City.

Other notable individuals with the surname Pomerleau include Jeanne Pomerleau (1858-1930), a French-Canadian novelist and poet; Paul Pomerleau (1904-1987), a Canadian politician and member of the Quebec National Assembly; and Gérard Pomerleau (1928-2018), a renowned Canadian architect and urban planner.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pomerleau

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

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

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

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