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

Engebretson, 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 Engebretson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Engebretson in America

Engebretson is the 11679th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Engebretson surname appeared 2,684 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 Engebretson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Engebretson 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 Engebretson

The surname Engebretson has its origins in Norway, dating back to the early medieval period around the 9th century AD. It is a patronymic surname, meaning that it was originally derived from the first name of the father or ancestor. The name Engebret is a contracted form of the Old Norse name Engelbrecht, which was composed of the elements "engel" meaning "angel" and "brecht" meaning "bright" or "shining."

The earliest known instances of the surname Engebretson can be found in Norwegian census records and parish registers from the 16th and 17th centuries. These records often list individuals with variations of the spelling, such as Engebretssen, Engebretzen, or Engebretzen. The surname was particularly common in the western and central regions of Norway, including the counties of Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, and Møre og Romsdal.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Engebretson was Hans Engebretson, a farmer who lived in the village of Voss, Hordaland, in the late 16th century. Another notable figure was Olov Engebretson, a merchant and ship owner from Bergen who lived in the early 17th century.

During the 19th century, many Norwegians bearing the surname Engebretson immigrated to the United States, settling in states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. One of the earliest documented Engebretsons in America was Ole Engebretson, who was born in Norway in 1820 and arrived in Wisconsin in the 1850s.

Other notable individuals with the surname Engebretson throughout history include:

1. Nils Engebretson (1797-1879), a Norwegian-American farmer and pioneer in Dane County, Wisconsin.
2. Inga Engebretson (1868-1955), a Norwegian-American author and educator from Minnesota.
3. Bjarne Engebretson (1892-1972), a Norwegian-American writer and journalist who worked for various newspapers in North Dakota and Minnesota.
4. Einar Engebretson (1894-1972), a Norwegian-American farmer and politician who served in the South Dakota State Senate.
5. Greta Engebretson (1905-1992), a Norwegian-American artist and illustrator known for her woodcut prints depicting rural life in Minnesota.

While the Engebretson surname is still relatively common in Norway and among Norwegian-American communities, it has also spread to other parts of the world due to immigration and intermarriage over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Engebretson

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

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

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

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