Bonpland was born as Aimé Jacques Alexandre Goujaud in La Rochelle, France, on 22, 28, or 29 August 1773. His father was a physician and, around 1790, he joined his brother Michael in Paris, where they both studied medicine. From 1791, they attended courses given at Paris's Botanical Museum of Natural History. Their teachers included Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, and René Louiche Desfontaines; Aimé further studied under Jean-Nicolas Corvisart and may have attended classes given by Pierre-Joseph Desault at the Hôtel-Dieu. During this period, Aimé also befriended his fellow student, Xavier Bichat.