The 15 Oldest Canadian Surnames Still in Use Today

Canada is only 159 years old — but some Canadian families have been signing the same surname on this land for over 400 years. In this video, we count down the 15 oldest surnames still in use in Canada today: the English fishing names of Newfoundland that predate almost everything on the mainland, the Acadian names that survived the deportation of 1755, and the Quebec names that go back to the very first farm ever worked in Canada. You'll learn why the most common surname in Quebec traces back to a single married couple, why the most famous battlefield in Canadian history is literally one settler's farm, and the story of roughly 770 women without whom most of these names would not exist. Is your surname on the list? Tell me in the comments — the most mentioned name becomes its own full video. CHAPTERS 0:00 Names older than Canada itself 2:40 #15 Fraser 4:20 #14 Pike — the Newfoundland surprise 6:10 #13 Dawe 7:50 #12 Boudreau 9:30 #11 Melanson 10:40 #10 LeBlanc 12:30 #9 Boucher 14:10 #8 Langlois 15:00 #7 Roy — and the names that got translated 16:40 The families with two surnames (dit names) 18:20 #6 Côté 19:10 The 770 women who seeded a country 21:40 How to trace your own name 22:50 #5 Martin 24:30 #4 Couillard 25:40 #3 Tremblay 27:00 #2 Gagnon 28:20 #1 Hébert 30:00 Whose name is next? #canadiansurnames #familyhistory #genealogy #canada #surnames