Explore the Family Name Lafontant

The meaning of Lafontant

French and Haitian: variant of Fontant, itself a variant of Fontan or Fontaine, with fused feminine definite article la. This surname is very rare in France, found mainly in Pas-de-Calais. It was brought to the US mainly from Haiti. Some characteristic forenames: French/Haitian Julien, Yves, Antoine, Fritz, Ghislaine, Jean Claude, Jean-Philippe, Josee, Ketly, Lucien, Lucrece, Marie Ange, Pascal.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Lafontant has shown a marked increase between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Lafontant was ranked 31,530 in terms of popularity among surnames, but by 2010 it had risen to 27,303 – an impressive jump of 13.41%. Similarly, the count of people bearing this surname also increased from 694 in 2000 to 885 in 2010, a rise of 27.52%. The proportion of people with the Lafontant surname per 100,000 also increased by 15.38% over this period.

20002010Change
Rank#31,530#27,30313.41%
Count69488527.52%
Proportion per 100k0.260.315.38%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Lafontant

Turning now to ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that among those bearing the Lafontant name there have been some shifts in ethnic identity between 2000 and 2010. While there was no representation of Asian/Pacific Islander in 2000, by 2010, they made up 0.68% of the Lafontants. On the other hand, the percentage of people identifying as two or more races decreased from 9.65% to 2.60%. There were slight decreases in the proportions of White and Hispanic Lafontants, each dropping by just over 5%. The Black community saw a significant increase, rising from 80.26% to 87.68%. The representation of American Indian and Alaskan Native remained at 0.00% for both years.

20002010Change
Black80.26%87.68%9.24%
White4.76%4.52%-5.04%
Hispanic4.9%4.52%-7.76%
Two or More Races9.65%2.6%-73.06%
Asian/Pacific Islander0%0.68%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0%0%