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

Palmquist, 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 Palmquist surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Palmquist in America

Palmquist is the 13578th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Palmquist surname appeared 2,233 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 Palmquist.

We can also compare 2010 data for Palmquist 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 Palmquist

The surname Palmquist is of Swedish origin, originating in the late 17th or early 18th century. It is a combination of the Swedish words "palm" meaning palm tree and "qvist" meaning twig or branch, likely referring to someone who lived near a place where palm trees grew or someone who worked with palm branches.

Palmquist is a relatively uncommon surname, with most early recorded instances found in Sweden and parts of Finland that had Swedish influence. The earliest known record of the name dates back to 1694 in the parish records of Östra Husby, Östergötland, Sweden, where a man named Johan Palmquist is listed.

In the 18th century, the name appears in various church records and tax rolls across Sweden. One notable early bearer of the name was Carl Palmquist, a Swedish military officer who fought in the Great Northern War against Russia in the early 1700s.

As the Swedish empire expanded its influence in the Baltic region, the name Palmquist also spread to areas of modern-day Finland and Estonia. In the late 18th century, a merchant named Erik Palmquist is recorded as living in the Finnish town of Loviisa (then part of Sweden).

During the 19th century, the Palmquist surname began to appear in immigration records as Swedes and Finns emigrated to North America. One of the earliest known Palmquists in the United States was Anders Palmquist, who arrived in New York in 1846 from Sweden.

Other notable bearers of the Palmquist name throughout history include:

• Johan Palmquist (1832-1908), a Swedish painter and art teacher.
• Carl Gustaf Palmquist (1843-1920), a Swedish politician and member of parliament.
• Vilhelm Palmquist (1835-1904), a Finnish architect who designed several notable buildings in Helsinki.
• Bure Holmboe Palmquist (1876-1959), a Norwegian banker and business leader.
• Sven Palmquist (1913-1985), a Swedish actor and director.

While not a particularly common surname, the Palmquist name has a rich history rooted in Scandinavia, with bearers found throughout Sweden, Finland, and other parts of the Nordic region over the past three centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Palmquist

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Palmquist, 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!