Fleury
A French surname that most likely began as a place name, and in some cases may also reflect the old personal name Florus or a saint’s name.
The #6,835 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 62,575 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fleury is a French surname most commonly explained as coming from one of several places called Fleury. Historical French etymologists also note that it may, in some families, go back to a saint’s name or to the Roman personal name Florus. In that reading, the name does not mean "flower-like" in a direct modern sense; it refers instead to an inherited place name built on older Latin forms.
History
The name is well attested among French surnames and was carried into the English-speaking world by Huguenot refugees. English and Norman sources also connect the related heraldic term fleury with the fleur-de-lis style of ornament, but that is not necessarily the surname’s direct origin. In Ireland, 19th-century surname writers noted Fleury among French immigrant names established there.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century writers often treated Fleury as a Huguenot surname in Britain and Ireland, which is why it turns up alongside many other French refugee names in historical lists.
From the historical record
“a p.n. (arrow-maker) Fleury. Fr. Fleury ; p.n. (florid). Hugt. n., 1687 Flewitt. See Floyd. Fley. From Fly, Norm. Dch.”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)