The Poirier surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 9,453 people carried this name — #3,747 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 31,300 people counted. That is up 4% from 9,055 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Poirier surname
A habitational surname from French.
Borrowed from French Poirier, from poirier (“pear tree”).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Poirier» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 12,253 people named Poirier.
107 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 96 départements, most often Maine-et-Loire.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
108 people named Poirier live in Switzerland.
They live in 7 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Vaud.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 93 people named Poirier live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In Belgium’s population register
At least 32 people named Poirier live in Belgium.
Statbel only publishes a name in a municipality when five or more people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Brussels-Capital.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Statbel (Statistics Belgium), family names of the population by municipality, 1 January 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In print
Poirier in American newspapers,
1899–1911.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 9,634 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Poirier,
with a public archive behind them.
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Sylvain Poirier 1828–1916 · master builder -
Pierre Poirier d. 1815
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Marie-Françoise Poirier 1648–
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Louis Poirier 1650–1718 · physician
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Germain Poirier 1724–1803 · librarian
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Bertrand Poirier de Beauvais 1750–1826 · military personnel
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Poirier.
- Pogoda 254 · U.S. census
- Pohl 6,485 · U.S. census
- Poineau 104 · U.S. census
- Point 592 · U.S. census
- Pointe 110 · U.S. census
- Poire 226 · U.S. census
- Poirot 402 · U.S. census
- Poiroux 134 · U.S. census
- Poirrier 645 · U.S. census
- Poissant 653 · U.S. census
- Poisson 1,822 · U.S. census
- Poitier 526 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Poirier is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.