DeVoe
A surname most often understood as a French-style name meaning “of Vaux” or “from the place called Vaux.”
The #6,618 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,325 Americans shares it.
Etymology
DeVoe is generally treated as an Anglicized form of a French locative surname built with de, meaning “of” or “from,” plus a place-name element such as Voe or Vaux. In practice, the name is often explained as referring to someone who came from a place called Vaux/Voe, a common French place-name element associated with valleys or low-lying land. The spelling has been reshaped in English-speaking countries, so the exact original place reference can be hard to pin down in every family line.
History
The surname is found in North America, especially in families with older colonial-era roots, and it has often been written in several different ways over time. Because DeVoe can reflect more than one immigration or spelling history, some bearers may descend from French, Dutch, or other Continental forms that were later standardized in English. The modern capitalization DeVoe is a common American stylistic form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The lowercase prefix de in surnames often marks geography, but in English records it was frequently fused, separated, or respelled by clerks, making forms like DeVoe especially variable.