Lefebvre (French: [ləfɛvʁ] ⓘ) is a common northern French surname. Other variations include Lefèbvre, Lefèvre, Lefeuvre (western France) and Lefébure (northern France and Normandy).
In the Occitan and Arpitan extension area, the variation is Fabre, Favre, Faure, Favret, FavretteorDufaure and in Corsica Fabri (cf. Italian Fabbri, Fabri). In Celtic-speaking Brittany, the corresponding name is Le Goff(ic), with the article le to translate Breton ar.
For Anglophone pronunciation purposes, the name has evolved, especially in the United States and Anglophone regions of Canada mainly by Acadians, among whom it is also a common surname, to LaFave, LeFave, Lefever and Lafevre, as well as other variant spellings. The English surname Feaver is also derived from Lefebvre. (See Lefèvre for more.)
The name derives from faber, the Latin word for "craftsman", "worker"; used in Late Latin in Gaul to mean smith. Many northern French surnames (especially in Normandy) are used with the definite masculine article as a prefix (Lefebvre, Lefèvre; a more archaic spelling is Le Febvre), with the contracted masculine article as a prefix (Dufaure) in the south of France, or without article/prefix (Favre, Faure) in the south of France, but the meaning is the same.[1]
