2000
#135,837
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 114
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Balsitis
A surname of Lithuanian origin indicating either place of origin or occupation.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 139 Americans carry the last name Balsitis. That puts it at #141,309 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,465,859 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Balsitis surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
139
1 in 2,465,859
Census rank
#141,309
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
121
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 121 bearers of the surname Balsitis in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 141309th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Balsitis, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Balsitis
The surname Balsitis originated in Lithuania, with the earliest records dating back to the 16th century. It is believed to have derived from the Lithuanian word "balsis," which means "voice" or "sound." This suggests that the name may have originally been a descriptive nickname for someone with a distinctive voice or someone who worked as a town crier or messenger.
The name Balsitis first appeared in historical documents from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was a European state that existed from the 13th to the 18th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Metryka Litewska, a collection of official documents from the Grand Duchy, where a certain Jonas Balsitis is mentioned as a landowner in the Vilnius region in the year 1587.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Balsitis name was prevalent among the Lithuanian nobility and landed gentry. Notable individuals from this period include Mykolas Balsitis (1612-1678), a military commander who fought in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's wars against Russia and Sweden, and Ona Balsitis (1725-1802), a wealthy landowner and philanthropist who funded the construction of several churches and schools in the Kaunas region.
As the Lithuanian population spread across Europe and the Americas in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Balsitis name traveled with them. One prominent figure was Jurgis Balsitis (1854-1931), a Lithuanian-American businessman and community leader who helped establish several Lithuanian organizations and publications in Chicago.
Another notable individual was Petras Balsitis (1879-1958), a Lithuanian-born author and poet who wrote extensively about the struggles of Lithuanian immigrants in the United States. His works, such as the novel "Žemės Drebėjimas" (Earthquake), shed light on the challenges faced by Lithuanian communities in adapting to life in a new country.
Juozas Balsitis (1903-1987), a Lithuanian-American engineer and inventor, made significant contributions to the development of early computing technologies. He held several patents related to magnetic data storage and worked for companies like IBM and Remington Rand during the early days of the computer industry.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Balsitis
Among Census respondents with the surname Balsitis, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%).
The bar chart below shows how Balsitis bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Balsitis surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.4% · 107
- Two or more races8.3% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 4
Timeline
Historical Census data for Balsitis
Balsitis appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#124,548
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 138
+24 bearers (+21.1%)
Per 100,000 0.05
Rank movement Up 11,289 places
2020
#141,309
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 121
-17 bearers (-12.3%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Down 16,761 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #135,837 | 114 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #124,548 | 138 | 0.05 | +24 bearers (+21.1%) | Up 11,289 places |
| 2020 | #141,309 | 121 | 0.04 | -17 bearers (-12.3%) | Down 16,761 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Balsitis surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #124,548 | #141,309 | -13.5% |
| Count | 138 | 121 | -12.3% |
| Per 100K | 0.05 | 0.04 | -19.0% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Balsitis bearers went from 138 to 121 (-12.3% change). The surname moved down 16,761 positions in the national ranking, going from #124,548 to #141,309.
FAQ
Balsitis surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Balsitis?
Name Census estimates that about 139 living Americans carry the surname Balsitis. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,465,859 residents.
How common is Balsitis?
Balsitis ranks #141,309 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 121 people with the surname Balsitis. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (139), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Balsitis.
Has Balsitis become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Balsitis went from 138 recorded bearers to 121. That is a decrease of 17 (-12.3%). In the national ranking it fell from #124,548 to #141,309.
What does the Census say about the background of Balsitis?
Among Census respondents with the surname Balsitis, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Balsitis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.4% (107 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Balsitis appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (88.4%), Two or More Races (8.3%), Asian/Pacific Islander (3.3%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Balsitis (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Balsitis mean?
A surname of Lithuanian origin indicating either place of origin or occupation. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Balsitis (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the last name Balsitis?
See how common the surname Balsitis is on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.