Family name origins & meanings
- French : nickname for a wine drinker, from Old French bei(vre), boi(vre) ‘to drink’ + vin ‘wine’. This name is sometimes translated as Drinkwine.
- A Boivin from the Normandy region of France is documented in Quebec city in 1646, with the secondary name Bontemps. Another, from the Anjou region, is recorded in Montreal in 1665, with the secondary name Panse.