Fournier
A French occupational surname meaning “baker” or “oven-keeper.”
The #2,505 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 21,368 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fournier comes from Old French fournier, a word for a person who tended the oven or worked as a baker. It is ultimately related to French four, “oven,” from Latin furnus, “oven.” In some historical sources the name is glossed more broadly as someone connected with a furnace or bakehouse.
History
The surname is common in France and also appears in regions shaped by French settlement or Huguenot migration. Historical surname dictionaries often list it among occupational names, alongside forms like Boulanger for “baker.” In English-speaking countries, the name was frequently recognized as a French immigrant or Huguenot surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some old dictionaries gloss Fournier as the person in charge of the communal or manor oven, not just a bread baker.
From the historical record
“Field [O.H.Ger./aA(A] FOURNIER (Fr.) Oven-Keeper; Parish- Baker [f. Yx.fourn-eau, oven ; Lat./Mr»-as] FREUND (Ger.) Friend ; Kinsman [O.H.Ger. friuni\ FRIEDMANN (Ger.) Man of Peace [Ger. friede, O.H.Ger. fridu, peace -|- mann] FRITZ (Ger.) a dim. oiFriedrich = Frederick,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)