The Trudeau family originally derived its surname from the name of the place in the Isle of France. The family linage shows they they came from some of the earliest setters in Canada. Etienne Trudeau arrived in Canada in 1659 at the age of 18. He was from La Rochelle, Manche, France. On Jan 10 1667, he married Adrienne Barbier who was born in Montreal. She had 13 children all boys accept for one girl.
Noble surnames, such as Coutu, evoke images of the ancient province of Bourbonnais, which was the most central of all the French Provinces. The original bearer of the name Coutu, which is a local surname, once lived, held land, or was born in the beautiful region of France. In France, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and during the late Middle Ages, names that were derived from localities became increasingly widespread. Local names originally denoted the proprietorship of the village or estate. The Coutu family originally lived in a village in Bourbonnais.