Family name origins & meanings
- French : from arquet ‘little bow’ or ‘little arch’ (diminutive of arche, from Latin arcus). It was originally an occupational name for an archer, but the French word arquet(te) is also found in the sense ‘market trader’ (originally, perhaps, one with a stall underneath an arch). The surname looks feminine, but French Canadian surnames from nouns ending in -et are regularly spelled -ette, indicating that the t is pronounced, not because they have any feminine sense.