Hjelmstad last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Hjelmstad

A Scandinavian surname derived from a place name related to helmet making or helm trading.

Hjelmstad, 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 Hjelmstad surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hjelmstad in America

Hjelmstad is the 74375th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hjelmstad surname appeared 260 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 Hjelmstad.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hjelmstad 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.

20102000Change (%)
Rank7437575938-2.08%
Count2602369.68%
Proportion per 100k0.090.090.00%

The history of the last name Hjelmstad

The surname HJELMSTAD is of Norwegian origin, deriving from the Old Norse words "hjalmr" meaning "helmet" and "stadr" meaning "place" or "homestead." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to a place where helmets were produced or a location associated with helmet-makers.

HJELMSTAD can trace its roots back to the Viking era in Scandinavia, particularly in the regions of Norway and Sweden. The earliest recorded instances of the name appear in Norwegian genealogical records dating back to the 13th century, with variations such as "Hjalmestad" and "Hielmestad" found in medieval documents.

One notable historical reference to the name HJELMSTAD is found in the "Diplomatarium Norvegicum," a collection of medieval Norwegian documents. In a document dated 1327, a person named "Thorvald Hjalmestad" is mentioned as a witness to a land transaction in the region of Trøndelag, Norway.

In the 16th century, a family bearing the HJELMSTAD name is recorded as landowners in the village of Hjelmstad, located in the municipality of Gjerstad, in the county of Aust-Agder, Norway. This village likely gave rise to the surname, as it was a common practice for families to adopt the name of their homestead or place of origin.

Notable individuals with the HJELMSTAD surname include:

  1. Olav Hjelmstad (1822-1894), a Norwegian farmer and political figure who served as a member of the Storting (Norwegian parliament) from 1868 to 1870.

  2. Ingrid Hjelmstad (1876-1952), a Norwegian educator and women's rights activist who campaigned for equal rights and access to education for women in the early 20th century.

  3. Bjørn Hjelmstad (1923-2001), a Norwegian architect and urban planner known for his work on several notable building projects in Oslo and other Norwegian cities.

  4. Inger Hjelmstad (born 1941), a Norwegian author and children's book writer, best known for her series of books about the character "Maja the Bee."

  5. Eivind Hjelmstad (1962-2018), a Norwegian businessman and entrepreneur who founded several successful technology companies in the 1990s and early 2000s.

While the surname HJELMSTAD has its origins in Norway, it has since spread to other parts of the world through migration and immigration, with bearers of the name found in countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hjelmstad

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

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 Hjelmstad was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only98.08%255
Non-Hispanic Black Only0.00%0
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races(S)%(S)
Hispanic Origin(S)%(S)

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

20102000Change (%)
White98.08%97.88%0.20%
Black0.00%0.00%0.00%
Asian and Pacific Islander(S)%0.00%(S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0.00%0.00%
Two or More Races(S)%(S)%(S)%
Hispanic(S)%(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 Hjelmstad was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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