vallée

Vallée is a French noun meaning "valley" and is commonly used in geography to describe a low area between hills or mountains, typically carved by a river. The term is also widely used as a toponym and as a surname. Etymologically, vallée derives from Latin vallis and entered Old French as valle, with the modern spelling vallée reflecting the loss of the final -e in later development and the assimilation of the adjective form in French.

As a surname, Vallée is common in French-speaking regions and occurs in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada. It is often toponymic, indicating an ancestral origin in a valley or in a place named Vallée.

In toponymy, Vallée appears in numerous French and Francophone place names, including villages, districts, and geographic features. The form with the diacritic é is standard in French; in non-francophone contexts or historical records, the name can appear as Vallee.

Notable individuals bearing the surname include writers, scientists, and politicians across French-speaking countries. The name is also encountered in fiction and in corporate or institutional names, reflecting the geographic meaning of the term.

See also: Vallée (disambiguation); Val, Valle, Vallon as related to geographic terms for valleys.