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

Nesheim, 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 Nesheim surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nesheim in America

Nesheim is the 32079th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nesheim surname appeared 719 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 Nesheim.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nesheim 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 Nesheim

The surname Nesheim originated in Norway and can be traced back to the 13th century. It is a locational name derived from the Old Norse words "nes" meaning "promontory" or "headland" and "heimr" meaning "homestead" or "dwelling place." The name likely referred to someone who lived on a headland or promontory.

Nesheim was initially found in western Norway, particularly in the counties of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane. The earliest recorded spelling of the name was "Neshæim," which appeared in the Diploma Norvegicum, a collection of medieval Norwegian diplomas and records from the 12th to the 16th century.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Olav Nesheim, a farmer who lived in Vik, Sogn og Fjordane, in the late 14th century. His name was documented in the Rødeboken, a medieval Norwegian land register.

In the 16th century, the name Nesheim was also found in the parish of Kvam in Hordaland. The church records from Kvam parish mention a Tore Nesheim, who was born around 1520.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the surname Nesheim spread to other parts of Norway, including the counties of Rogaland and Møre og Romsdal. One notable bearer of the name from this period was Nils Nesheim (1683-1767), a farmer and landowner from Vik, Sogn og Fjordane.

In the 19th century, several individuals with the surname Nesheim achieved prominence. Among them were Ola Nesheim (1809-1876), a Norwegian politician and member of the Storting (the Norwegian parliament), and Halvor Nesheim (1846-1920), a Lutheran minister and author from Kvam, Hordaland.

Another notable bearer of the name was Anders Nesheim (1871-1947), a Norwegian-American writer and journalist who emigrated to the United States in the late 19th century. He worked for various Norwegian-American newspapers and published several books, including his autobiography "A Norwegian-American Boy's Story" (1936).

The surname Nesheim has also been found in other Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden and Denmark, likely due to migration and intermarriage between the Nordic countries over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nesheim

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

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

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

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