Pelletier
A French occupational surname meaning “furrier” or “skinner.”
The #2,026 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,337 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Pelletier is a French occupational surname for a furrier, someone who prepared, sold, or worked with skins and pelts. It is built on French pel, peau, or related Old French forms meaning “skin” or “pelt,” ultimately from Latin pellis, “hide” or “skin.” The name therefore began as a job-name and later became hereditary.
History
The name is well established in France and also produced a number of related forms and variants such as Peltier, Pelletereau, and Pelletreau. In English-language surname books of the 19th century it is consistently explained as a French occupational name, and it appears among immigrant and francophone family names in North America. The surname is especially recognizable in French-speaking regions because it retains the clear trade meaning.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same root behind Pelletier also lies behind several other French fur-related surnames, showing how common medieval trade names became family names.
From the historical record
“son, son] PELLETIER (Fr.) Furrier [f. ^r.peau, earlier pel, skin, fur; Lat.^W/w] PETERSEN : see Pedensen. Petit 326”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)