Lafourcade History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France

Etymology of Lafourcade

What does the name Lafourcade mean?

The origins of this old family name Lafourcade can be found within medieval 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 Lafourcade 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 Lafourcade was an occupational name for someone who worked at a forge or smithy.

The surname Lafourcade was originally derived from the word "forgeret", "forge" in English, which in turn derives from the Latin word "fabrica" which means "workshop". 1

Early Origins of the Lafourcade family

The surname Lafourcade was first found in the town of Forgetville located in the region of Lorraine in the northeast France where this distinguished family held a family seat. 1

In later years, this main branch of the family branched to acquire lands and estates in Touraine and at Kerlan in Picardy where they were active in the affairs of the church and community and were recorded as a family of stature and importance. The family also branched to Normandy and Poitou. They flourished on their estates for many centuries, intermarrying with many other distinguished families of the area until the French Revolution in 1789 when many aristocrats lost their estates.

Early History of the Lafourcade family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Lafourcade research. Another 53 words (4 lines of text) covering the year 1630 is included under the topic Early Lafourcade History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lafourcade Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Forget, Forgett, Fourget, Forquet, Forquette, Faurget, Faurquet, Forgette, Fougette and many more.

Early Notables of the Lafourcade family

More information is included under the topic Early Lafourcade Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lafourcade Ranking

France, the name Lafourcade is the 5,497^th most popular surname with an estimated 1,000 - 1,500 people with that name. 2

Migration of the Lafourcade family

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Nicolas Forget was one of the early settlers in Quebec who arrived from Normandy in 1652; Jacques Forget arrived in Quebec from Poitou in 1634.

Contemporary Notables of the name Lafourcade (post 1700) +

Jérôme Lafourcade (b. 1983), French football striker who has played since 2003
Enrique Lafourcade Valdenegro (b. 1927), Chilean writer, critic and journalist
María Natalia Lafourcade Silva (b. 1984), Mexican Latin Grammy Award winning pop-rock singer and songwriter

Sources +

Dionne, N.-E., Origine Des Familles Canadiennes-Français. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969. Print.
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/