Show ContentsPoul History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

During that dark period of history known as the Middle Ages, the name of Poul was first used in France. While the patronymic and metronymic surnames, which are derived from the name of the father and mother respectively, are the most common form of a hereditary surname in France, occupational surnames also emerged during the late Middle Ages. Many people, such as the Poul family, adopted the name of their occupation as their surname. However, an occupational name did not become a hereditary surname until the office or type of employment became hereditary. The surname Poul was an occupational name for a poultry farmer. Originally the name Poul was derived from the Old French word poulet, meaning chicken.

Early Origins of the Poul family

The surname Poul was first found in Burgundy (French: Bourgogne), an administrative and historical region of east-central France, where the family was established in the village of Beaujolais, in the diocese of Langres.

Early History of the Poul family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Poul research. Another 110 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1351, 1356, 1500, 1560, 1586, 1588, 1600, 1607, 1610, 1614, 1649 and 1699 are included under the topic Early Poul History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Poul Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Poule, Poulle, Poul, Poulet, Poullet, Poulot, Poullot, Pouliot, Poulieau, Poulieaux, Pouliaut, Pouliaulx, Pouliault, Poulard, Poulat, Poulas, Poulastre, Poulastron, Pouleteau, Pouleteaux, Poulteau, Poulteaux, Poulié, Pouliet, Pouletier, Poultier, Poulain and many more.

Early Notables of the Poul family

Notable amongst the family at this time was

  • Geoffroy Poulard, Franco-Breton Squire who bravely fought but was killed at the Combat of the Thirty on March 26th, 1351; and Pierrard Poullet, a writer at the end of the 16th century
  • John Poulett (1586-1649), 1st Baron Poulett, was a cavalier, eldest son of Sir Anthony Paulet or Poulett, Governor of Jersey from 1588 to 1600. In 1610 he was admitted a student at the Middle Temple...


United States Poul migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Poul Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • William Poul, who landed in Virginia in 1634 1

Contemporary Notables of the name Poul (post 1700) +

  • Poul Byrge Poulsen (1915-1994), Danish rower
  • Poul Henningsen (1894-1967), Danish author, architect and critic
  • Poul Ebbesen Pedersen (1932-2017), Danish silver medalist footballer at the 1960 Summer Olympics
  • Poul Abraham Lehn (1732-1804), Baron of Lehn and Baron of Guldborgland, a feudal Baron of the Danish and Norwegian nobility
  • Poul Erik Bech (b. 1938), former Danish football manager
  • Poul Anker Bech (1942-2009), Danish painter
  • Poul la Cour (1846-1908), Danish scientist, inventor, and educationalist
  • Poul Børge Kops (b. 1915), Danish boxer who competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics
  • Poul Nielson (b. 1943), Danish politician and former government minister
  • Poul Martin Möller (1794-1838), Danish literary figure


  1. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


Houseofnames.com on Facebook