Explore the Family Name Chenette

The meaning of Chenette

Altered form of French Canadian Chenet, itself an (intermediate) altered form of Cheney 3. Altered ending reflects the Canadian and American French practice of sounding the final -t. History: Most, if not all, of the Chenettes are descendants of Bertrand Chesnay/Chenay dit/sieur de La Garenne from Brittany (France); see Cheney. Some characteristic forenames: French Lucien, Armand.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Chenette witnessed a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. The census reports that in 2000, the surname ranked 40,690 in popularity with 506 individuals carrying the name. By 2010, despite a minimal drop in count to 500, the rank had shifted to 43,206, marking a 6.18% fall in rank. This shows that the frequency per 100,000 population also reduced by 10.53%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#40,690	#43,206	-6.18%
Count	506	500	-1.19%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.17	-10.53%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Chenette

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides an insight into the ethnicity associated with the Chenette surname. In 2000, 94.47% of those with this surname identified as White, falling marginally to 94.4% in 2010. The proportion of people with this surname identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander dropped from 0.99% in 2000 to zero in 2010. During the same period, the percentage of people who identify with two or more races also decreased by 24.05%. Interestingly, the figures for 2010 show a new emergence of Hispanic identity among individuals with the Chenette surname.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.47%	94.4%	-0.07%
Two or More Races	2.37%	1.8%	-24.05%
Hispanic	0%	1.8%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.99%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%