Cloutier
A French occupational surname meaning a nail-maker or nail-seller.
The #4,747 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,381 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cloutier is built on French clou, meaning "nail," with the agent ending -ier, which often marks a person connected with a trade or occupation. The name would originally have referred to someone who made, sold, or worked with nails. It is a straightforward occupational surname, parallel to English names like Naylor or Smith.
History
The surname is French and is especially associated with French-speaking regions, including Normandy and Canada. French occupational names of this type were often inherited later as fixed family surnames. In North America, Cloutier is well known through French-Canadian family lines.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older French sources, cloutier could be glossed as a nail-maker or nail-seller, showing how directly many surnames grew out of everyday trades.
From the historical record
“John le Naylere. — Plac. de Quo Warr. 'Cloutier, a nayler, a nayle-sraith; a seller or maker of nayles.'— Cotgrave, Fr. Diet., A.D. i6ii.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)