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

Roux, 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 Roux surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Roux in America

Roux is the 9594th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Roux surname appeared 3,387 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 Roux.

We can also compare 2010 data for Roux 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 Roux

The surname Roux has its origins in France, where it first emerged in the late Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. It is derived from the Old French word "rous," meaning "red" or "reddish," which likely referred to the hair color or complexion of the original bearer.

The name was particularly prevalent in the regions of Normandy and Brittany, where it can be traced back to several early records. One of the earliest known references to the name is found in the "Livre des Bourgeois de Rouen," a registry of citizens in the Norman city of Rouen, dating back to the 13th century.

In the 14th century, a notable figure bearing the name Roux was Jacques Roux, a influential cleric and scholar who served as the Chancellor of the University of Paris from 1367 to 1378. His contemporaries included the philosopher Jean de Roux, a renowned logician and theologian active in the late 14th century.

The Roux surname also appears in various medieval charters and land records from the 15th and 16th centuries, particularly in the regions of Normandy and Brittany. One such example is the mention of a Jean Roux, a landowner in the village of Évreux in 1482.

During the Renaissance period, the name gained further prominence with figures like François Roux, a celebrated poet and playwright born in Paris in 1541. Another notable bearer was Pierre Roux, a French explorer and cartographer who accompanied Samuel de Champlain on his voyages to the New World in the early 17th century.

As the name spread across France and beyond, it evolved into various regional spellings, such as Rous, Rouz, and Rouze. Some of these variants can be found in historical records from other parts of Europe, indicating the migration of French families bearing the Roux name.

In the 18th century, the Roux surname was carried by several notable individuals, including Jacques Roux, a influential figure in the French Revolution and a leading voice of the radical Enragés faction. Another prominent bearer was the French chemist and physician Auguste Roux, born in Auxerre in 1765, who made significant contributions to the early understanding of cellular biology.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Roux

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

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

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

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