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

Ericson, 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 Ericson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ericson in America

Ericson is the 5762nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ericson surname appeared 6,014 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Ericson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ericson 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 Ericson

The surname Ericson has its origins in Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden and Norway. It is a patronymic surname, meaning it was derived from the given name of the father or ancestor. In this case, Ericson means "son of Eric," with Eric being a common name in these regions.

The name Eric itself has roots in the Old Norse name Eiríkr, which is believed to be derived from the words "ei," meaning "ever," and "ríkr," meaning "ruler" or "powerful." As such, Ericson was originally a surname given to the sons of men named Eric, indicating their lineage and family ties.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Ericson can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of narratives written in the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas often mentioned individuals with the surname Ericson, indicating the prevalence of the name in Scandinavian societies during that time period.

In the 16th century, the surname Ericson appeared in various Swedish and Norwegian records, such as parish registers and census documents. Notable individuals with this surname include Leif Ericson, the famous Norse explorer credited with being the first European to reach North America around the year 1000 AD.

Another prominent figure was Nils Ericson, a Swedish industrialist and inventor who lived from 1802 to 1870. He was best known for designing and building the Swedish rail network, as well as contributing to the development of the screw propeller for ships.

In the 19th century, Johan Ericson (1818-1898) was a Swedish-American engineer and entrepreneur who founded the Ericsson Telephone Company, which later became one of the leading telecommunications companies in the world.

Leif Ericson Day, celebrated on October 9th, commemorates the arrival of the famous explorer in North America and acknowledges the contributions of Scandinavian immigrants to the United States.

Over the centuries, the surname Ericson has also been spelled in various ways, such as Eriksson, Erickson, and Ericsson, reflecting regional variations and linguistic adaptations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ericson

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!