| Meaning | From the personal name Arsène — from Greek Arsenios, meaning virile, strong |
| Origin type | Given name → French surname |
| Popularity | Primarily Acadian/French-Canadian; uncommon in metropolitan France |
| Regions | Poitou (France); New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island; Louisiana Cajun country |
| Variants | Arsenal, Arseneau, Arseneault, Arsenau |
| Notable bearers | Widespread in Acadian New Brunswick; connection to Arsenal (weapons store) etymology |
Arsenault derives from the French personal name Arsène, itself from the Latin Arsenius and Greek Arsenios, meaning virile, strong, or manly. The Greek word arsenos — from which we also get the element arsenic (named for its strong, male qualities in the alchemical tradition) — gave rise to the name of St Arsenius the Great (354–449), an Egyptian Desert Father whose life of austere contemplation made him venerated throughout the Eastern and Western Churches.
The Arsenault surname is above all an Acadian name — one of the foundational surnames of Acadian society in French Canada. The Acadian settlers who colonised what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island from the 1630s onward brought the name from Poitou in western France, and the Arsenault family became one of the largest and most widespread families in the Acadian community.
The 1755 Deportation (the Grand Dérangement) — when British forces expelled the Acadian population of Nova Scotia — scattered the Arsenault family across the Atlantic world. Some went to France; many ended up in Louisiana, where Acadian exiles became the Cajuns (a corruption of "Acadiens"); others eventually returned to the Maritime provinces. The Arsenault name is thus woven into one of the most dramatic episodes in North American colonial history.
In New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Arsenault remains one of the most common surnames — a living monument to the Acadian community's survival and cultural persistence despite the Deportation and generations of pressure to assimilate. The name's prevalence in these provinces reflects the extraordinary demographic resilience of the Acadian people.
The Arsenault diaspora extends through the Acadian corridor from the Maritime provinces through Quebec, New England (particularly Maine and Massachusetts), and Louisiana. In Louisiana, Cajun Arsenaults are part of the rich Franco-American cultural tradition of the Mississippi delta. The name also appears in isolated Acadian communities in the Caribbean — small groups of Deportation-era exiles who settled in Saint-Domingue and other French Caribbean colonies.
Love to Visit France covers the stories, places, and people behind French culture — from the Alps to the Atlantic, from ancient surnames to living villages.
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