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

Nilson, 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 Nilson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nilson in America

Nilson is the 3562nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nilson surname appeared 10,010 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Nilson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nilson 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 Nilson

The surname Nilson has its origins in Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden and Norway. It is derived from the Old Norse personal name "Nils," which is a shortened form of the name "Nikolaus" or "Nicholas." The suffix "-son" indicates that the name originally denoted "son of Nils."

In the early medieval period, the use of patronymic surnames, which identified a person as the son or daughter of their father, was a common practice in Scandinavian countries. The Nilson surname likely emerged during this time as a way to distinguish families and establish lineages.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Nilson surname can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which date back to the 13th and 14th centuries. These literary works often mentioned individuals with patronymic surnames, reflecting the cultural significance of such naming conventions in Norse societies.

In Sweden, the Nilson surname has a long history, with records indicating its presence as early as the 16th century. Notable individuals with this surname include Carl Nilson Skänsk (1601-1662), a Swedish statesman and military leader, and Nils Nilson Cronstedt (1676-1741), a Swedish merchant and shipowner.

The Nilson surname also has a strong presence in Norway, where it can be traced back to the 17th century. One notable Norwegian bearer of the name was Peter Andreas Nilson (1837-1901), a pioneering Norwegian Lutheran pastor and theologian who played a significant role in the establishment of the Lutheran Free Church in Norway.

In the United States, the Nilson surname has been present since the early waves of Scandinavian immigration in the 19th century. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this surname was John Nilson, a Swedish immigrant who settled in Minnesota in the 1850s and became a prominent farmer and community leader.

Other notable individuals with the Nilson surname include Roberta Nilson (1901-1995), an American artist and art educator; Lennart Nilson (1904-1980), a Swedish photographer and author known for his groundbreaking work on human embryology; and Ulf Nilson (1956-present), a Swedish businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded the successful software company Axis Communications.

While the Nilson surname has evolved over centuries and across different regions, its origins can be traced back to the early patronymic naming traditions of Scandinavia, where it emerged as a way to identify individuals as the sons of Nils or Nicholas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nilson

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

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

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

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