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

Bison, 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 Bison surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bison in America

Bison is the 66553rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bison surname appeared 297 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 Bison.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bison 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 Bison

The surname Bison has its origins in the Old French word "bison", which referred to the large, shaggy bovine mammal native to Europe and North America. This name is believed to have first emerged in France during the medieval period, likely as a descriptive nickname for someone associated with these animals, perhaps a hunter or farmer.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Bison surname can be found in the Livre des métiers, a tax record from Paris dating back to the 13th century. Here, a certain Jehan Bison is listed as a butcher, suggesting the name may have been used to denote his trade in dealing with livestock.

In the 14th century, the name appears in the Ragman Rolls, a collection of homage rolls from Scotland, where a Willelmus Bysone is recorded as swearing fealty to King Edward I of England. This indicates that the name had spread beyond France and into other parts of Europe by this time.

During the Renaissance period, the Bison surname gained prominence in the Low Countries, particularly in the Netherlands. In the 16th century, a notable figure with this name was Hiëronymus Bison, a Dutch Renaissance humanist and scholar who was born in Utrecht in 1519 and died in 1554.

In the 17th century, the name can be found in various records across Europe. For instance, in the parish registers of St. Dunstan's Church in Stepney, England, a John Bison is recorded as being buried there in 1630. Additionally, a Gerrit Bison is mentioned in the Dutch East India Company's records as a merchant who traded in the East Indies in the late 1600s.

As the centuries progressed, the Bison surname continued to spread to different parts of the world, often carried by those who migrated from Europe. One notable bearer of this name was Edouard Bison, a French botanist born in 1836 who made significant contributions to the study of plant taxonomy.

In the 20th century, the Bison surname gained further recognition through individuals such as Merrill Bison, an American anthropologist born in 1901 who conducted extensive research on Native American cultures, and Alain Bison, a French writer and philosopher born in 1928 who explored existential themes in his works.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bison

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

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

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

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