Fontaine
A French surname meaning “fountain” or “spring,” usually originally given to someone who lived near one.
The #3,012 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,943 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fontaine comes from French fontaine, meaning a fountain, spring, or natural source of water. The word goes back to late Latin fontana, from Latin fontanus, “of a spring.” As a surname, it usually began as a topographic name for someone who lived by a spring or well, or near a place identified with that feature.
History
This surname is common in French-speaking areas and also appears widely in countries shaped by French migration. English surname dictionaries note it as the French equivalent of native names like Fountain, and it was especially familiar in Britain through Huguenot bearers. Related forms such as Desfontaines and Fontenelle show the same place-name root.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root appears in the famous literary surname La Fontaine, as in Jean de La Fontaine, the French fabulist.
From the historical record
“Messer, vieux mot pour messire: La Fontaine I'afr^quemment appliqu6 k des animeaux, et mSme a I'estomac, qu'il a appe]6 messer Gaster- — Stappers, Diet. d'Etym. Fratif., p. 606.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)