Ledoux
A French nickname surname meaning “the gentle” or “the agreeable.”
The #5,725 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 50,965 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ledoux comes from French le doux, literally “the sweet” or “the gentle,” used as a nickname for someone thought to be mild, pleasant, or kindly. The surname belongs to a common French pattern in which a descriptive phrase becomes a hereditary family name. Earlier writers also glossed it simply as “the amiable,” which matches the same basic sense.
History
The name is well established in French surname tradition and appears in older French-onomastic lists alongside other descriptive names such as Leduc and Levieux. It is also found in francophone areas beyond France, especially where French naming patterns spread to Belgium, Canada, and parts of the United States. In English-language sources, it was often treated as transparently French in form and meaning.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few older surname dictionaries grouped Ledoux with other French names that literally sound like full phrases, making it one of the more straightforwardly descriptive French surnames.
From the historical record
“LECRAW (N. ©.), La Croix (£.), The cross. LEDIGE (fH.), Idle. LEDOUX (i^.), The amiable. Lefroy, The reserved. Legen- DRE, The son-in-law. Lemaire, The mayor. Lempereur, The emperor. Leneant-Dieu, The infant Saviour ; and they bear the holy child in their co^t of arms. Letemps, The time. Levavasseur, The arriere…”
— Surnames