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

Friess, 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 Friess surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Friess in America

Friess is the 22281st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Friess surname appeared 1,157 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 Friess.

We can also compare 2010 data for Friess 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 Friess

The surname Friess has its origins in German-speaking regions of Europe. It is a toponymic name, meaning it is derived from a place name. In this case, the name Friess likely originated from the German word "Fries," which refers to the region of Friesland, located in the northwestern part of the Netherlands and parts of neighboring Germany.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Friess can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of historical documents from the Duchy of Saxony, dating back to the 13th century. In this record, a person named Henricus Friess is mentioned in relation to a land transaction in the year 1281.

During the Middle Ages, the name Friess was also present in various regions of what is now modern-day Germany. In the city of Nuremberg, a merchant named Hans Friess is recorded as having been active in the 15th century, trading goods with other parts of Europe.

In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the name Friess was Johann Friess, a German theologian and Protestant reformer born around 1505. He was a follower of Martin Luther and played a role in the spread of the Reformation in the region of Saxony.

Another historical figure with the surname Friess was Johann Jakob Friess, a German mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1573 to 1634. He is known for his contributions to the field of trigonometry and his work on calculating the orbits of celestial bodies.

Moving into the 18th century, a person named Johann Gottlieb Friess was a renowned clockmaker and inventor who lived in the city of Dresden, Germany, from 1714 to 1784. His innovative designs and improvements to clock mechanisms earned him recognition throughout Europe.

While the name Friess has its roots in German-speaking regions, it has since spread to other parts of the world through migration and various historical events. However, the name's earliest origins can be traced back to the toponym Fries, reflecting the geographical region it was derived from.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Friess

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

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

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

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