Cormier
A French surname most often linked to the cornel tree—or to someone who lived near it.
The #2,081 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,767 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cormier is a French surname built on Old French cormier, meaning the cornel tree or service tree. As a family name, it likely began as a topographic name for someone who lived near such a tree or a place marked by it. In some cases it may also reflect a house or property name rather than a direct occupational sense.
History
The name is well established in French-speaking areas and became especially familiar in French Canada and Acadian communities. In North America, many bearers descend from French settlers, and the surname remains common in Louisiana and across French-Canadian diaspora communities. The historical excerpts supplied here mention the name only incidentally, so they add little to the etymology itself.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Cormier is also the French common word for the cornel tree, a useful clue to the surname’s likely landscape origin.
From the historical record
“Corey, Corish, Corkly, Corley, Corliss, Cormack and CoRMicK, Corman, Cormerais, Cormier, Cornell, CoRNEY, Cornish, Corrao, Corrigan, Corson, Cor- thell, Corwin ; Cosgrave, Cosgriff, and Cosgrove ; * Harvard College held a large tract of marsh-land, in Suflfolk County, for a hundred and fifty years under the will of…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)