Explore the Family Name Cavalier

The meaning of Cavalier

French (southern): variant of Chevalier ‘knight, rider’. This surname is also found in Britain, where it is of Huguenot origin. History: André Cavalier from Bordeaux in Gironde, France, married first Isabelle-Barbe Brousillon in New Orleans, LA, c.1760, and second Marie-Jeanne Le Cossec/Cosse in New Orleans in 1770.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Cavalier in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Cavalier has seen a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the surname ranked at 9,059, but by 2010 it had slipped to 9,848, representing a change of -8.71%. The count of individuals with this surname also experienced a slight decrease of nearly 1%, going from 3,318 individuals in 2000 to 3,285 in 2010. This led to a proportion per 100k drop of -9.76%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#9,059	#9,848	-8.71%
Count	3,318	3,285	-0.99%
Proportion per 100k	1.23	1.11	-9.76%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Cavalier

Ethnicity identification among those bearing the surname Cavalier has shown some shifts according to the Decennial U.S. Census. Individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander increased from 0.54% in 2000 to 0.70% in 2010, while those identifying with two or more ethnicities rose from 1.51% to 1.89%. The percentage of those who identified as White decreased slightly from 83.27% to 80.00%. There was a notable increase in those identifying as Hispanic, going from 3.98% in 2000 to 5.05% in 2010. Individuals identifying as Black saw an increase from 10.07% to 11.75%, while those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native saw a small decrease of -3.17%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	83.27%	80%	-3.93%
Black	10.07%	11.75%	16.68%
Hispanic	3.98%	5.05%	26.88%
Two or More Races	1.51%	1.89%	25.17%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.54%	0.7%	29.63%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.63%	0.61%	-3.17%