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

Gulbranson, 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 Gulbranson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gulbranson in America

Gulbranson is the 25102nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gulbranson surname appeared 989 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 Gulbranson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gulbranson 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 Gulbranson

The surname Gulbranson is of Scandinavian origin, deriving from the Old Norse personal name Gulbrandr, which was composed of the elements gulr ("golden," referring to hair color) and brandr ("sword"). It is believed to have originated in Norway during the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gulbranson can be found in the Landnámabók, a medieval Icelandic manuscript that chronicles the settlement of Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries. The text mentions a settler named Gulbrandr, who is presumed to be the namesake for the Gulbranson lineage.

During the Middle Ages, the name Gulbranson was relatively common in Norway and other Scandinavian regions. It is likely that some individuals bearing this name were involved in the Viking expeditions and raids that took place throughout Europe during this period, although specific historical references are scarce.

In the 13th century, a man named Gulbrand Jonsson is recorded as having been a prominent landowner and chieftain in the Gudbrandsdalen valley of central Norway. This region, which was likely the ancestral homeland of the Gulbranson family, is thought to be the source of the modern spelling of the surname.

As the Scandinavian diaspora spread across Europe and eventually to the Americas, the Gulbranson name traveled with it. One notable bearer of the name was Gulbrand Gulbranson (1830-1908), a Norwegian-American farmer and politician who served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in the late 19th century.

Another notable Gulbranson was Nils Gulbranson (1874-1954), a Norwegian-American businessman and inventor who founded the Gulbranson Company, a leading manufacturer of pianos and organs in the early 20th century. The company's headquarters were located in Chicago, Illinois, and its instruments were widely popular throughout the United States and beyond.

In more recent times, individuals with the surname Gulbranson have made their mark in various fields, including academia, sports, and the arts. Among them are Else Gulbranson (1920-2008), a Norwegian-American professor of Scandinavian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Tor Gulbranson (born 1952), a Norwegian author and playwright known for his works exploring themes of identity and cultural heritage.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gulbranson

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

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

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

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