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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • French : from a diminutive of vache (from Latin vacca ‘cow’), an occupational name for a cowherd. In New England, this name is sometimes Americanized as Cowan.
  • A Vachon from the Poitou region of France is documented in Quebec City in 1653. Secondary surnames include Desfourchettes, Laminée, and Pamerlaux.

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