Paquin
A French surname most likely built from a pet form of the given name Jacques or from the Easter-name group around Pâques/Paque.
The #8,159 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 75,971 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Paquin is a French name whose origin is usually explained as a diminutive or nickname form related to Paque, a regional form connected with Easter, or in some cases to a pet form of a personal name in the same family as Paquet and Paquot. The excerpted 19th-century source groups Paquin with Paquet, Paquiot, and Paquot and treats it as a derivative of Paque. Because French surname formation often produced multiple parallel diminutive forms, the exact path may have varied by region.
History
Paquin is found in French naming, especially in northern and eastern French-speaking areas, and it later spread to North America through French migration. The form also appears in clusters of related surnames such as Paquignon and Paquot, suggesting a productive local surname pattern rather than a single fixed origin. In some cases, similar names were later adapted or stabilized differently in parish records and civil registers.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The old source specifically links Paquin with several sibling-looking surnames, showing how one base form could generate a whole family of local variants.
From the historical record
“iuterprétaiion est d'autant plus pro- bable que la forme Paquard n'existe pas à côté de nombreux Paquin, Paquet, et que Paquot est, de son côté, relativement peu représenté. Je dois ajouter cependant que, en Champagne, pacaud a le sens de”
— Dictionnaire des noms (French surnames)