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

Amundsen, 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 Amundsen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Amundsen in America

Amundsen is the 16203rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Amundsen surname appeared 1,782 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Amundsen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Amundsen 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.

The history of the last name Amundsen

The surname Amundsen has its origins in Norway, tracing back to the late medieval period. It is believed to be a patronymic name, derived from the Old Norse personal name Amundr, which itself has roots in the ancient Germanic name Amund, meaning "protection" or "protector."

The earliest recorded instances of the name Amundsen can be found in Norwegian census records and parish registers from the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in the regions of Vestfold, Telemark, and Oppland. It was commonly spelled as Amundssøn or Amundson during this time, reflecting its patronymic origin.

One of the most famous bearers of the Amundsen name is Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), the renowned Norwegian explorer who led the first expedition to reach the South Pole in 1911. His achievement cemented the Amundsen name in the annals of polar exploration and put Norway on the map as a nation of intrepid adventurers.

Another notable figure with the Amundsen surname is Jens Amundsen (1857-1932), a Norwegian businessman and shipping magnate who played a pivotal role in the development of the whaling industry in the Antarctic region during the early 20th century.

In the realm of academia, Leiv Amundsen (1836-1895) was a respected Norwegian philologist and linguist who made significant contributions to the study of Old Norse and Icelandic literature.

The Amundsen name has also been associated with various place names in Norway, such as Amundsrud, a village in the municipality of Sør-Odal, and Amundsvika, a bay in the Svalbard archipelago.

It is worth noting that while the Amundsen surname is predominantly Norwegian in origin, it has also been adopted by descendants of Norwegian immigrants in other parts of the world, particularly in North America and Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Amundsen

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

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 Amundsen was:

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 Amundsen has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

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 Amundsen was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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