Lieu
A rare surname likely borrowed from a French or Norman word for a place, site, or dwelling.
The #9,045 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 85,478 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Lieu is most likely connected with French lieu, meaning “place” or “site,” from Latin locus. In surname formation, such a word could be used for someone who lived at or came from a particular place, or as a short locational nickname tied to a residence or holding. Because the supplied excerpts do not give a direct headword entry for Lieu itself, this remains a cautious, pattern-based explanation rather than a fully secure one.
History
As a surname, Lieu is uncommon in English-language records and may reflect French or Franco-Norman influence. The modern bearers recorded in the United States are likely to include immigrant lines from French-speaking areas, especially where the name was preserved in its simple French spelling. The word itself is also very common in French as an ordinary noun and in expressions like en lieu de (“in place of”).
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In French, lieu is a very ordinary word for “place,” but as a surname it is much rarer than as a common noun.
From the historical record
“lit. pleasure ; in French topography short for 'raaison de plaisance,' country-seat, villa, or ' lieu de plaisance,' pleasant re- treat ; O.Fr. plaisant, pleasing : v. under Pleasant] Reginald de Plesence. — Hund. Rolls.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)