Chauvin
A French surname most likely from a nickname for someone bald or tonsured, from French chauve “bald.”
The #8,246 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,841 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is generally explained from French chauve, meaning “bald,” ultimately from Latin calvus. In older surname work, Chauvin is treated as a French form in the same broad family as Calvin and Chauve, with the core sense of a bald-headed or closely shaven person. Some sources also mention a medieval Latin form such as Cauvinus or a place-name development, but the nickname explanation is the standard one.
History
The surname is documented in France and later became well known beyond it, especially because Nicholas Chauvin was associated in later tradition with the word chauvinism. English-language surname dictionaries of the 19th century regularly treated it as French in origin and linked it with other names built on chauve. The name has several related spellings in French records, including Chauvin, Chauvon, and Chauvot.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The modern word chauvinism was popularized from the legendary over-loyal soldier Nicolas Chauvin, whose surname helped give the term its name.
From the historical record
“In France the enthusiastic de- votion of Nicholas Chauvin to the emperor Napoleon I gave rise to the term Chauvinism. Chaufin was the Hundred Roll form ; v. supra.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)