Broussard
A French surname most likely linked to brushwood or a place among thickets.
The #1,302 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,447 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Broussard is a French surname, most likely connected to French brousse or broussailles, words for brushwood, thicket, or scrubland. In some older surname discussions it is also treated as a name formed from a place-name based on that same landscape word. The sense is therefore likely “one from the brushy place” or “person living near scrubland.”
History
The name is best known in North America through French-speaking families, especially in Louisiana and other areas shaped by Acadian and French colonial migration. English-language spellings often preserve the French form Broussard, which became well established as a family name rather than a common surname type in the broader English world. Because the historical excerpt is brief and partly noisy, the exact derivation should be treated as likely rather than certain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Broussard is now especially associated with Cajun and Louisiana French heritage in the United States.
From the historical record
“Brous, l'oriuo tlti Brousse. Broussais, Broussard. 1° Dé- rivés de Brousse ; 2" Uûrivés de brouaser : bouillir de colère, ramas- ser du bois (oil). Brousse. Broussaillc, taillis,”
— Dictionnaire des noms (French surnames)