Tarreau

Tarreau is a surname of French origin that occurs in historical and contemporary records in France and among Francophone communities abroad. The exact etymology is not firmly established in major reference works; as with many French surnames, Tarreau may be toponymic, deriving from a place name, or may reflect a patronymic or descriptive origin that has changed over centuries as dialects evolved.

In use today, Tarreau is most commonly encountered in France, with populations and families also found in neighboring countries and in former French colonies. The spelling Tarreau has variant forms in historical documents, reflecting changes in orthography and regional pronunciation.

Because Tarreau is a surname rather than a widely recognized geographic or institutional name, it is primarily notable as a family name in genealogical and biographical contexts. Individuals bearing the name may appear in civil records, census data, and archival material across periods, contributing to regional histories or family lineages without a single defining biographical figure or location.

See also references to similarly spelled surnames or toponyms may appear in genealogical resources, but Tarreau does not designate a widely known place, organization, or event in standard reference works.