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

Eskelson, 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 Eskelson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Eskelson in America

Eskelson is the 46725th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Eskelson surname appeared 455 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 Eskelson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Eskelson 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 Eskelson

The surname Eskelson is of Scandinavian origin, deriving from the Old Norse personal name Eskil, which is a compound of the elements "ask" meaning "ash tree" and "hildr" meaning "battle". The name was particularly common in Sweden and Norway during the Viking Age.

The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 13th century, appearing in various medieval records and chronicles from the region. One notable example is Eskil Magnusson, a Swedish nobleman and military commander who fought in the Swedish-Novgorod Wars in the late 13th century.

As the name spread across Scandinavia, it took on various spelling variations, such as Eskilsson, Eskelsson, and Eskelson. These variations often reflected the local dialects and regional differences in pronunciation and spelling conventions.

In the 16th century, the name Eskelson appeared in the Diplomatarium Norvegicum, a collection of medieval Norwegian documents. One notable bearer of the name during this period was Eskel Jonsson, a Norwegian merchant and ship owner who traded extensively with the Hanseatic League.

The name also found its way to Iceland, where it was recorded in the Icelandic sagas. One such individual was Eskil Eskelson, an Icelandic farmer and chieftain who lived in the 12th century and was mentioned in the Sturlunga saga.

During the Age of Exploration and colonization, some individuals bearing the Eskelson surname migrated from Scandinavia to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas. One notable figure was Nils Eskelson, a Swedish-born farmer who settled in the Delaware Valley region of North America in the late 17th century.

Another prominent bearer of the name was Johan Eskelson, a Norwegian naval officer who served in the Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. He distinguished himself in several naval engagements and rose to the rank of Admiral.

In the 20th century, the name Eskelson gained recognition through individuals like Olav Eskelson, a Norwegian-American author and journalist who wrote extensively about the experiences of Norwegian immigrants in the United States.

While the surname Eskelson has its roots in Scandinavia, it has since spread to various parts of the world, carried by descendants of those who bore the name throughout history. However, its origins can be traced back to the rugged Viking warriors and seafarers of the medieval Scandinavian lands.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Eskelson

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Eskelson, 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!