# Lafayette (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/lafayette/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from French.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 2,593 |
| US rank (2010) | 12,035 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 119,069 people |
| Change since 2000 | +8.6% (2,387 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˌlæfiːˈɛt/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Fayette, Defayette, Delafayette |

## Etymology

French surname from Occitan, "the little beech tree".

## Who carries it

Share of people named Lafayette in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 55% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 36% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 2.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Lafayette in Croatia and the United States.

## People named Lafayette

- Oliver Lafayette, American basketball player
- Ruby Lafayette, American actress (1844–1935)

## Similar surnames

Lafata, Lovett, Leavitt, Lovato, Levitt, Lobato, Luft, Loveday, Lovette, Labadie, Labat, Lovitt.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.