Hee last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Hee

A variation of the surname Hee, derived from a German nickname meaning "bright" or "shining."

Hee, 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 Hee surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hee in America

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

The Hee 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 Hee.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hee 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 22281 20543 8.12%
Count 1,157 1,200 -3.65%
Proportion per 100k 0.39 0.44 -12.05%

The history of the last name Hee

The surname "HEE" is believed to have originated in the Netherlands or Low Countries region during the medieval period. It is likely derived from the Dutch or Flemish word "hee," which means "he" or "him." This suggests that the name may have initially been a descriptive nickname or a reference to a particular individual.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname "HEE" can be found in the Guelders manuscript, a 14th-century document from the historical Duchy of Guelders, which was located in the present-day Netherlands and parts of Germany. The manuscript mentions a certain "Jan van Hee" as a landowner in the region.

In the 15th century, the name appears in various records from the city of Bruges, a prominent center of trade and commerce in medieval Flanders (present-day Belgium). Several individuals with the surname "HEE" are listed as merchants, artisans, and guild members during this period.

The earliest known bearer of the surname "HEE" was Pieter Hee, a Dutch painter who lived in the late 16th century. His most notable work is a series of portraits depicting members of the wealthy Van der Meulen family from Antwerp.

Another notable figure was Jan Hee, a 17th-century Dutch military engineer who served under Prince Maurice of Nassau. He contributed to the construction of several fortifications and defensive works during the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch Republic and Spain.

In the 18th century, Adriaan van der Hee, a respected lawyer and legal scholar from The Hague, published influential treatises on Dutch civil law and jurisprudence. His works were widely studied and referenced by legal professionals throughout the Netherlands.

During the 19th century, a branch of the Hee family settled in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). One of their descendants, Willem Hee, became a prominent colonial administrator and served as the Resident of Banten from 1857 to 1862.

While the surname "HEE" has its roots in the Netherlands and Flanders, it has since spread to other parts of the world due to migration and immigration patterns. However, its origins can be traced back to the Low Countries region, where it emerged as a descriptive surname or nickname during the medieval period.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hee

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

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 Hee was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 23.68% 274
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 55.83% 646
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 13.48% 156
Hispanic Origin 3.46% 40

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 Hee has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 23.68% 27.50% -14.93%
Black (S)% 3.75% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 55.83% 57.83% -3.52%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 13.48% 7.50% 57.01%
Hispanic 3.46% (S)% (S)%

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

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

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"Hee last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/hee-surname-popularity/.

"Hee last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/hee-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

Hee last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/hee-surname-popularity/.

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