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

Kittleson, 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 Kittleson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kittleson in America

Kittleson is the 16748th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kittleson surname appeared 1,707 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Kittleson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kittleson 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 Kittleson

The surname Kittleson is of Scandinavian origin, specifically from the regions of Norway and Sweden. It is believed to have emerged during the Viking era, around the 8th to 11th centuries. The name is derived from the Old Norse words "kettil" meaning "kettle" or "cauldron," and "son" indicating "son of." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to the occupation or trade of a kettle or cauldron maker.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kittleson can be found in the Diplomatarium Norvegicum, a collection of medieval Norwegian diplomas and records dating back to the 12th century. In this collection, a person named "Kettilsson" is mentioned in a document from the year 1225.

In Sweden, the name Kittleson is often spelled as "Kettilsson" or "Kettelsson." One notable bearer of this name was Erik Kettilsson, a Swedish nobleman and military commander who lived in the 14th century. He played a significant role in the Swedish-Danish wars during the reign of King Magnus Eriksson.

Another early reference to the name can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of historical narratives and stories from the 13th and 14th centuries. In the Saga of Eric the Red, a character named Ketill Flatnose is mentioned as one of the first Norse settlers in Greenland around the year 986 AD.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Kittleson began to appear in various church records and parish registers across Norway and Sweden. One notable bearer of this name was Hans Kittleson, a Norwegian farmer and landowner who lived in the 17th century and owned property in the Trondheim region.

As the Scandinavian diaspora spread to other parts of the world, the name Kittleson also traveled with them. In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the 1850 census records, where a family with the surname Kittleson is listed as residing in the state of Wisconsin.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the surname Kittleson. These include:

1. Rolf Kittleson (1897-1982), a Norwegian-American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Kittleson Company, a successful construction firm.
2. Olaf Kittleson (1857-1935), a Norwegian-American Lutheran minister and educator who served as the president of St. Olaf College in Minnesota.
3. Karen Kittleson (born 1968), an American politician and member of the Montana House of Representatives.
4. Nils Kittleson (1879-1964), a Norwegian-American artist and painter known for his landscape paintings depicting the American West.
5. Gunnar Kittleson (1912-1991), a Norwegian-American engineer and inventor who held several patents related to radar technology and communications systems.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kittleson

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

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

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

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