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

Ostrem, 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 Ostrem surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ostrem in America

Ostrem is the 31994th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ostrem surname appeared 721 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 Ostrem.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ostrem 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 Ostrem

The surname Ostrem has its origins in Norway, dating back to the 10th century AD. It is believed to be derived from the Old Norse words "austr" meaning "east" and "heimr" meaning "home" or "abode". This suggests that the name may have referred to someone who lived in an eastern region or settlement.

The earliest recorded instance of the name Ostrem appears in the Gulating Law, a Norwegian provincial law code from the 11th century. It mentions an individual named Ostreim who was involved in a legal dispute over land ownership.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Ostrem was primarily concentrated in the western and central regions of Norway, particularly in the counties of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane. It was often associated with families of farmers and landowners.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Ostrem was Tord Ostreim, a Norwegian chieftain who lived in the late 12th century. He was mentioned in the Saga of Haakon IV of Norway for his role in a conflict between the king and the regional nobility.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Ostrem began to appear in various spellings, such as Ostreim, Östrem, and Östrem, reflecting regional variations in pronunciation and spelling conventions.

In the 18th century, a prominent figure with the name Ostrem was Hans Ostrem, a Norwegian merchant and ship owner from Bergen. He was born in 1742 and played a significant role in the city's maritime trade.

Another notable individual was Oline Ostrem, a Norwegian author and pioneer in women's education, who lived from 1825 to 1903. She established one of the first schools for girls in Norway and wrote several books on education and women's rights.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the name Ostrem was also found in various parts of Sweden and Denmark, likely due to migration from Norway. One example is Johan Ostrem, a Swedish businessman and industrialist born in 1864, who founded a successful manufacturing company in Gothenburg.

Throughout its history, the surname Ostrem has been associated with various place names in Norway, such as Ostreim in Hordaland and Östrem in Møre og Romsdal. These place names share the same linguistic roots as the surname and may have influenced its development and spread.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ostrem

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!