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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • French : from the medieval personal name Bonettus, a diminutive of Latin bonus ‘good’.
  • French : occasionally, a Gascon variant of Bonneau.
  • English and French : metonymic occupational name for a milliner, or a nickname for a wearer of unusual headgear, from Middle English bonet, Old French bon(n)et ‘bonnet’, ‘hat’. This word is found in medieval Latin as abonnis, but is of unknown origin.
  • In Germany the name was borne by Waldensians, of French origin.
  • A Bonnet from the Charente region of France is documented in Montreal in 1670 with the secondary surname Lafortune.

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