LaPierre
A French surname meaning “the stone” or “the rock,” often originally a name for someone who lived by a prominent stone or rocky place.
The #7,406 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,702 Americans shares it.
Etymology
LaPierre is a French surname built from la pierre, meaning “the stone” or “the rock.” In surname use, it usually points to a topographic feature: someone who lived near a notable stone, rock, boundary marker, or stony place. Some 19th-century writers also connected it with place-names beginning with Pierre, but the basic sense remains the same.
History
The surname is found in France and in French-speaking communities, and it also traveled to North America through French settlement and later migration. In surname books, forms such as Lapierre and related spellings are treated as French place-based names rather than occupational ones. The name is relatively common in Quebec and among families of French descent elsewhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because French surnames were often written with or without the article, LaPierre and Lapierre can represent the same underlying name.
From the historical record
“Cornw. Lapper. Fr. Lapierre, Lappe" ; D. Lappe- ; p.n. Lapsley. From Lapley ; a loc. n., Staffs.”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (1st ed.)