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

Prairie, 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 Prairie surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Prairie in America

Prairie is the 30735th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Prairie surname appeared 758 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 Prairie.

We can also compare 2010 data for Prairie 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 Prairie

The surname Prairie is of French origin and dates back to the early 16th century. It is derived from the Old French word "prairie," which means "meadow" or "grassland." This name likely referred to someone who lived in or near a prairie or open field.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Prairie can be found in the Parisian census records of 1548, where a family with that surname was listed as residing in the city's outskirts. It is believed that this family may have migrated from the rural regions of northern France, where prairies and meadows were more common.

In the late 17th century, the name Prairie appeared in several historical documents from the French regions of Normandy and Brittany, suggesting that the name had spread across different parts of the country. One notable mention is in a parish record from the village of Saint-Malo in Brittany, which listed the birth of a child named Jean Prairie in 1682.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the Prairie surname continued to be found in various French records, including birth, marriage, and death registries. Some notable individuals with this surname during this period include:

1. François Prairie (1734-1811), a French merchant and landowner from the town of Rouen.
2. Marie-Louise Prairie (1789-1867), a French author and poet from Paris.
3. Antoine Prairie (1803-1881), a French soldier who fought in the Napoleonic Wars.

As French settlers began to explore and colonize other parts of the world, the Prairie surname also spread to different regions. In the late 17th century, a family by the name of Prairie was among the first French colonists to settle in the Mississippi River Valley region of what is now the United States.

Another notable bearer of the Prairie surname was Jacques Prairie (1726-1795), a French explorer and fur trader who established trading posts in present-day Canada and the Great Lakes region of the United States.

In more recent history, some individuals with the Prairie surname have achieved recognition in various fields, such as:

1. Pierre Prairie (1908-1992), a French philosopher and writer.
2. Simone Prairie (1921-2011), a French actress and theater director.
3. Jean-Paul Prairie (born 1944), a French politician and member of the National Assembly.

While the Prairie surname is still found in many parts of the world, it remains most prevalent in France, where it originated, as well as in French-speaking regions of Canada and former French colonies.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Prairie

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

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

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

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