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

Dornsife, 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 Dornsife surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dornsife in America

Dornsife is the 151532nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dornsife surname appeared 108 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 Dornsife.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dornsife 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 Dornsife

The surname DORNSIFE originated in the German-speaking regions of central Europe, likely in the late medieval period around the 13th or 14th century. It is believed to be derived from the German words "dorn" meaning "thorn" and "sife" which may have referred to a small stream or brook, suggesting that the name denoted someone who lived near a thorny brook or stream.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the 1486 parish records of the town of Rottenburg am Neckar in what is now the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Here, a certain Johannes Dornsife is mentioned as a local landholder and farmer. The spelling "Dornsife" persisted in this region for several centuries, with variations such as "Dornseiff" and "Dornseiffen" also appearing in historical documents.

By the 16th century, the name had spread to other parts of Germany, including the regions of Saxony and Thuringia. In 1578, a Hans Dornsife is recorded as a master blacksmith in the city of Leipzig, indicating that the name was no longer exclusively associated with rural occupations.

As the DORNSIFE surname proliferated, it also found its way into other European countries through migration and trade. In the 17th century, a branch of the family settled in the Netherlands, where the name was often rendered as "Dornsiffen" or "Dornsijffen". One notable figure from this era was Pieter Dornsiffen (1622-1692), a successful merchant and alderman in the city of Amsterdam.

The earliest known instances of the DORNSIFE name in the English-speaking world date back to the late 18th century, when German immigrants began arriving in North America in significant numbers. One of the first recorded examples is Jacob Dornsife (1762-1842), who was born in the German Palatinate region and later settled in Pennsylvania after serving in the American Revolutionary War.

Another prominent individual with this surname was Johann Georg Dornsife (1774-1851), a Hessian soldier who fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War but later defected to the American side. He went on to become a successful farmer and landowner in Virginia after the war.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the DORNSIFE name continued to be represented in various fields, such as Christian Dornsife (1820-1903), a German-American brewer and businessman in Pennsylvania, and John Dornsife (1871-1945), a Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dornsife

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

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

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

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