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.