Lejeune
A French surname meaning “the young one,” originally used as a nickname or descriptor.
The #6,172 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 55,690 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lejeune comes from French le jeune, meaning “the young” or “the young one.” It began as a descriptive nickname for a younger man, or for someone distinguished from an older namesake by age. In some medieval records it appears with the article still attached, which is why the surname survived in this joined form.
History
The name is well attested in medieval and later French usage, and it has parallels in other languages where “young” became a hereditary surname. Historical surname writers often group it with names like Legrand and Lebeau as French descriptive forms with the article preserved. In English-language records it sometimes appears in altered spellings or as part of immigrant family names, but the core form remains recognizably French.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same French pattern produced many surnames with le- plus an adjective, such as Legrand (“the tall/great”) and Leloup (“the wolf”).
From the historical record
“Jung, Jungo, June.— Nick. 'theyoung'; Fr.'lejeune.' With an excrescent j-; cf. Jennings. Matilda Jon, CO. Crab.. i,T,. A. jDhanna k Jnnee, co. CamB,, ibid.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances