Lefebvre
A French surname meaning “the blacksmith” or more broadly “the smith,” from an old form of French *fevre*.
The #5,454 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 48,385 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lefebvre is a French occupational surname built on an old northern French form of *fevre* / *fèvre*, meaning “smith” or “craftsman,” ultimately from Latin *faber*, “artisan, workman.” The initial *Le-* is the French definite article, so the name originally meant “the smith.” Older spellings such as *Lefèvre*, *Lefébure*, and *Lefebure* reflect regional spelling variation and historical sound changes.
History
This is a long-established French surname, especially associated with northern France in older scholarship. In English-language sources it often appears in records with many variant spellings, because French spelling was not standardized for a long time and clerks often wrote the name phonetically. The surname remains common in France and in French-descended communities abroad.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries note that *Lefebvre* and related forms belong to a wide family of French names from *faber*—the same Latin root behind words for craftsmanship and fabrication.
From the historical record
“on this subject, and Monsieur Lefevre (a word now supplanted Ijy forycron) often writes himself Lefebvre. I know a baron who goes still further, and is, " in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation," Monsieur le Baron Lefebure 1 The following remarkable and happy”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom