Priou Surname

212,895th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 1,934 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
France
Highest density in:
France

Priou Surname User-submission:

Priol

This surname comes from the Breton, priol, meaning 'prior' (as in: a help in a Catholic monastery. As they were not monks themselves, they could have children).

Prioul

In some parts of Brittany, the letter "o" is pronounced /u/ in Breton (the "oo" sound in English), which is transcribed "ou" in French.

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Priou Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
France1,8611:35,6924,364
United States161:22,653,683662,747
Switzerland131:631,76343,230
Sweden61:1,641,126116,183
Canada41:9,211,398321,528
Madagascar41:5,912,4595,394
England31:18,572,686338,250
Israel31:2,852,545113,505
Malaysia21:14,747,112316,340
Venezuela21:15,102,03869,873
United Arab Emirates21:4,581,13693,443
Thailand21:35,319,172966,191
Brazil21:107,037,1661,031,150
Belgium21:5,748,322130,559
Japan11:127,844,29373,547
Argentina11:42,743,414282,706
Netherlands11:16,887,176156,465
New Caledonia11:276,22310,363
Norway11:5,142,286129,201
Peru11:31,784,12364,452
Singapore11:5,507,70347,049
Spain11:46,752,036156,870
Italy11:61,156,688199,583
DR Congo11:73,879,570260,543
Dominican Republic11:10,432,93236,508
Australia11:26,995,701270,794

Priou Surname Meaning

User-submitted Reference

Priol

This surname comes from the Breton, priol, meaning 'prior' (as in: a help in a Catholic monastery. As they were not monks themselves, they could have children).

Prioul

In some parts of Brittany, the letter "o" is pronounced /u/ in Breton (the "oo" sound in English), which is transcribed "ou" in French. Some French-speaking enumerators then transcribed the name with an "ou" instead of an "o".

Prioux/Priou

There are two historic main linguistic zones in Brittany: the Breton-speaking zone, in western Brittany, and the Gallo-speaking zone, in eastern Brittany. Gallo is a dialect mixing Breton and Oil-French, an ancient French dialect that used to be spoken all across northern France. Prioux/Priou is basically exactly the same word than Priol, but in Gallo.

"Le" particle

The "Le" was added later, at the time of the first censuses, during the French Revolution. Most of the enumerators spoke French by then, and when one saw a newly father coming to register the birth of their newborn child, they used to say "here comes the [insert original surname here] guy", in French "Voilà le [insert original surname here]". Years passed, and lots of breton surnames had a "Le" particle added, sometimes removed years later, as prefix. "Le Priol" and "Le Prioux" are no exception to that rule.

- tomythefrenchie

Priou Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Priou Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname Priou is carried by more people in France than any other country or territory. It can also occur as:. For other potential spellings of this surname click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Priou? popularity and diffusion

Priou is the 212,895th most numerous family name on a global scale. It is borne by approximately 1 in 3,768,121 people. The last name Priou is mostly found in Europe, where 97 percent of Priou are found; 96 percent are found in Western Europe and 96 percent are found in Gallo-Europe.

This last name is most commonly used in France, where it is held by 1,861 people, or 1 in 35,692. In France Priou is primarily found in: Pays de la Loire, where 39 percent are found, Île-de-France, where 16 percent are found and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where 10 percent are found. Other than France this surname exists in 25 countries. It also occurs in The United States, where 1 percent are found and Switzerland, where 1 percent are found.

Priou Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those bearing the Priou surname are 13.23% more likely to be registered Republicans than the national average, with 60% being registered with the political party.

Priou earn significantly less than the average income. In United States they earn 29.1% less than the national average, earning $30,594 USD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Proiou91207/
Priu89110/
Progiou8347/
Prihoud830/
Pruiu80324/
Prieu80315/
Prius8074/
Preou8015/
Priju8015/
Proju8011/
Priut806/
Pryou802/
Proyu801/
Prihu801/
Prițu801/
Priutt7340/
Prihui731/
Preyou731/
Proyus731/
Praiju731/
Priush731/
Proyous6717/
Prió678/
Pryu671/
Pruiutt671/
Prihust671/
Preujou671/

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Priou
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis