Mis last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Mis

Polish surname meaning "bear".

Mis, 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 Mis surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Mis in America

Mis is the 39117th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Mis surname appeared 563 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 Mis.

We can also compare 2010 data for Mis 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 39117 39678 -1.42%
Count 563 521 7.75%
Proportion per 100k 0.19 0.19 0.00%

The history of the last name Mis

The surname Mis originated in the region of Brittany in northwestern France during the late Middle Ages. It is derived from the Breton word "miz," meaning "son," indicating it was initially a patronymic name given to the son of a person named Mis.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mis can be found in the Cartulaire de l'Abbaye de Redon, a medieval cartulary from the Abbey of Redon in Brittany, dating back to the 11th century. The name appears as "Mis filius Rioci" (Mis, son of Rioc).

The Mis surname later spread throughout France, particularly in the northern regions of Normandy and Picardy. In the 13th century, the name was recorded in the Testa de Nevill, an important medieval English survey of landholders, as "Johannes Mis" in the county of Lincolnshire.

One notable bearer of the Mis surname was Jehan Mis, a French soldier who fought in the Hundred Years' War. He was mentioned in the chronicles of Jean Froissart, a renowned medieval historian and author, for his bravery at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.

In the 15th century, the name Mis appeared in the form "de Mys" in the Paston Letters, a collection of correspondence between members of the affluent Paston family in Norfolk, England.

Another significant figure was Guillaume Mis, a French merchant and explorer who traveled to the New World in the early 16th century. He was among the first Europeans to establish trade relations with the indigenous peoples of present-day Canada.

During the 17th century, the name Mis was found in various records across Europe, including the baptismal records of the Dutch Reformed Church in Amsterdam, where a child named "Pieter Mis" was baptized in 1642.

As the name spread across Europe, it also underwent various spelling variations, such as Mies, Meys, Mize, and Mize, reflecting the regional dialects and linguistic influences of different areas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Mis

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

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 Mis was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 79.22% 446
Non-Hispanic Black Only 2.13% 12
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 17.76% 100

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 79.22% 87.52% -9.96%
Black 2.13% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races (S)% 1.73% (S)%
Hispanic 17.76% 9.40% 61.56%

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

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

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"Mis last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on May 22, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/mis-surname-popularity/.

"Mis last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/mis-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 May, 2025

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

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