LaCroix
A French surname meaning “the cross,” originally a topographic name for someone who lived near a cross or crossroads.
The #4,436 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,579 Americans shares it.
Etymology
LaCroix comes from French la croix, meaning “the cross,” from Latin crux. As a surname it most often began as a locational or topographic name: someone living by a wayside cross, a church cross, or a crossroads could be identified this way. In some cases it may also have pointed to a person from a place called La Croix or simply have functioned as a religiously marked name.
History
The name is well established in French naming practice and appears in both the simple form Croix and the article-plus-form La Croix, with Delacroix as a closely related variant. It became familiar outside France through migration and through notable French figures, especially artists, writers, and scientists. In English-language sources it is usually treated as a distinctly French surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root appears in many related surnames and place-names across the French-speaking world, and the article in LaCroix preserves the old French definite article "la."
From the historical record
“Dans 'ce passage de Villon {Œuv. compl., Paris , Picard , 1867), M. P. Lacroix donne au mot boilloriy un sens qui nous paraît inexact o Le boullon ou bouillon , dit-il , est l'endroit de la rivière où Teau forme un tournant. On dit encore dans le langage trivial boire un bouillon , c'est-à-dire courir le risque…”
— Noms de famille normands