Adolphsen last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Adolphsen is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Adolphsen.

Meaning of Adolphsen

Patronymic surname derived from the given name Adolph, meaning "noble wolf" in Old High German.

Adolphsen, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Adolphsen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Adolphsen in America

Adolphsen is the 93921st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Adolphsen surname appeared 195 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Adolphsen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Adolphsen to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 93921 84631 10.41%
Count 195 206 -5.49%
Proportion per 100k 0.07 0.08 -13.33%

The history of the last name Adolphsen

The surname ADOLPHSEN has its origins in Northern Germany, specifically in the regions of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It likely emerged in the late medieval period, around the 14th or 15th century.

ADOLPHSEN is a patronymic surname, derived from the Germanic personal name Adolf, which means "noble wolf." The suffix "-sen" was commonly added to personal names in Northern Germany to create patronymic surnames, indicating "son of."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name ADOLPHSEN can be found in the records of the city of Lübeck, where an Adolphus Adolphsen was mentioned in a document from the year 1487.

The ADOLPHSEN name also appears in the historical records of the Duchy of Holstein, where a family of that name held land and property in the village of Bornhöved in the 16th century. A notable member of this family was Hans ADOLPHSEN, who served as a local magistrate in the town of Segeberg in 1572.

In the 17th century, the ADOLPHSEN surname spread to other parts of Northern Germany, including the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. A prominent figure bearing this name was Johann ADOLPHSEN, a wealthy merchant and shipowner from the city of Rostock, who lived from 1621 to 1692.

Another notable ADOLPHSEN was Christian ADOLPHSEN, a Lutheran clergyman and theologian who was born in the town of Rendsburg in 1676. He served as a pastor in various churches in Holstein and authored several religious treatises.

In the 19th century, the ADOLPHSEN name became associated with the city of Hamburg, where several members of the family were involved in the shipping and maritime industries. One such figure was Carl ADOLPHSEN, a successful shipbuilder and entrepreneur who lived from 1818 to 1892.

Throughout its history, the ADOLPHSEN surname has also been found with slight variations in spelling, such as ADOLPHSSON, ADOLFSEN, or ADOLPHSON, reflecting regional linguistic differences and the influence of different scribes or record-keepers.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Adolphsen

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Adolphsen.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Adolphsen was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 98.46% 192
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 0.00% 0

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Adolphsen has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 98.46% 97.09% 1.40%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% 0.00% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races (S)% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 0.00% (S)% (S)%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Adolphsen was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Adolphsen, please contact us.

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"Adolphsen last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 26, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/adolphsen-surname-popularity/.

"Adolphsen last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/adolphsen-surname-popularity/. Accessed 26 July, 2024

Adolphsen last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/adolphsen-surname-popularity/.

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