How common is the surname Rousseau?

8,270 people in the United States had the surname Rousseau in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 37,333 Americans. It ranked 4,297th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Rousseau?

Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau, American chemical engineer (1910-2000), followed by Vincent Rousseau.

Where is the surname Rousseau most common?

Wikidata records people named Rousseau in the United States, Belgium and France and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Rousseau?

Rousseau is /ɹuˈsoʊ/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Rousseau getting more or less common?

More common. 7,854 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 8,270 in 2010, up 5.3%.

The surname Rousseau

A French nickname surname, carried by 8,270 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ɹuˈsoʊ/ 2 syllables Soundex R200

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Rousseau is more common than 97.4% of them.

Origin

French origin

From French Rousseau. Originally a French nickname for someone with red hair, from roux (“redhead”). Doublet of Russell. Compare russel.

Rousseau is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

One of 791 French surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 8,270 people named Rousseau in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 37,333 Americans. That is up 5.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 7,854.

#4,297

rank among US surnames

8,270

people in 2010

2.8

per 100,000 Americans

+5.3%

change since 2000 (was #4,185)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#4,292	Pinkston	8,291	37,239
#4,293	Bianchi	8,284	37,270
#4,295	Samaniego	8,281	37,284
#4,297	Rousseau	8,270	37,333
#4,298	Landa	8,267	37,347

Who is named Rousseau

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

81% of people named Rousseau identified as white (not Hispanic), 11% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 81%
Black (not Hispanic) 11%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.1%
Two or more races 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Rousseaus

7 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau
American chemical engineer (1910-2000)
Vincent Rousseau
Belgian athletics competitor (born 1962)
Jeanne Rij-Rousseau
Artist (1870-1956)
Cassiel Rousseau
Australian diver and former acrobatic gymnast, born 2001
Eugene Rousseau
American musician (1932–2024)
Conner Rousseau
Belgian politician, born 1992
Lilly Pulitzer
American fashion designer (1931–2013)

Notable Rousseaus come mostly from the United States (3), Belgium (2) and France (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Rousseau

Rousseau has the Soundex code R200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R200.

Other French surnames

All 791 French surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Rousseau come from?: From French Rousseau. Originally a French nickname for someone with red hair, from roux (“redhead”). Doublet of Russell. Compare russel.
How common is the surname Rousseau?: 8,270 people in the United States had the surname Rousseau in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 37,333 Americans. It ranked 4,297th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Rousseau?: In the 2010 Census, 81% of people named Rousseau identified as white (not Hispanic), and 11% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Rousseau?: Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau, American chemical engineer (1910-2000), followed by Vincent Rousseau.
Where is the surname Rousseau most common?: Wikidata records people named Rousseau in the United States, Belgium and France and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Rousseau?: Rousseau is /ɹuˈsoʊ/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Rousseau?: Rousseau is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Rousseau getting more or less common?: More common. 7,854 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 8,270 in 2010, up 5.3%.