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

Nicodemus, 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 Nicodemus surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nicodemus in America

Nicodemus is the 14227th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nicodemus surname appeared 2,108 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 Nicodemus.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nicodemus 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 Nicodemus

The surname Nicodemus is of Greek origin, derived from the personal name Nikodemos, which is a compound of the Greek words "nike" meaning "victory" and "demos" meaning "people." It is believed to have originated in the Byzantine Empire, around the 4th or 5th century CE.

In its early form, the name was often spelled as Nicodemos or Nicodimus. It gained prominence in Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions with strong Greek cultural influences, such as parts of Italy, France, and the Balkans.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Nicodemus can be found in the Domesday Book, a medieval census commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Nicodemus" in the records for Lincolnshire, England.

During the Renaissance period, the surname Nicodemus gained further recognition, particularly in Italy. One notable bearer of the name was Nicodemus Frischlin (1547-1590), a German scholar, poet, and playwright who studied and worked in Italy.

In the 17th century, the name appeared in various spellings, such as Nicodeme and Nicodeme, in French records. A famous bearer of the name from this period was Nicodemus Tessin the Elder (1615-1681), a Swedish architect and the first of the Tessin family of architects.

The 18th century saw the emergence of several notable individuals with the surname Nicodemus. One such individual was Nicodemus Musnicki (1700-1781), a Polish mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics.

In the 19th century, the name Nicodemus gained prominence in the United States. One of the most well-known bearers of the name was Nicodemus (c. 1819-1904), a former slave who became a prominent leader and educator in the African American community in West Virginia.

Another notable bearer of the surname Nicodemus during this period was Nicodemus Peffer (1850-1924), an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nicodemus

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

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

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

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