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

Petersen, 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 Petersen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Petersen in America

Petersen is the 571st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Petersen surname appeared 58,480 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 20 people would have the surname Petersen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Petersen 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 Petersen

The surname Petersen originated in Scandinavia, primarily in Denmark and Norway, during the Middle Ages. It derives from the Old Norse personal name Pétr, which was a variant of the name Peter, derived from the Greek word "petros" meaning "rock." The suffix "-sen" is a patronymic, indicating "son of."

In the late 12th century, records from the Danish town of Roskilde mention a man named Petrus Jacobsen, suggesting an early usage of the Petersen name. Similarly, the Norwegian Diplomatarium, a collection of medieval documents, includes references to individuals with the name Petersen as early as the 13th century.

One of the earliest known bearers of the Petersen name was Niels Petersen, a Danish clergyman and writer who lived in the late 15th century. He is known for his work "Jyske Krønike," a chronicle of the history of Jutland.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Petersen name spread throughout Scandinavia and gained prominence. Jens Petersen, a Danish astronomer and mathematician born in 1547, made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and developed improved methods for calculating planetary movements.

The Petersen name also gained recognition in other parts of Europe. In Germany, Johannes Petersen, born in 1576, was a renowned theologian and writer who played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation.

In the 19th century, the Petersen name gained further prominence with individuals such as Niels Matthias Petersen, a Danish philologist and linguist born in 1791, who made significant contributions to the study of Old Norse literature and language.

Another notable figure was Julius Petersen, a Danish mathematician born in 1839, who is best known for his work on graph theory and the discovery of the Petersen graph, which bears his name.

The Petersen surname has also been associated with various place names and locations throughout Scandinavia, including the town of Petersenshavn in Denmark, which was named after a landowner named Petersen in the 17th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Petersen

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

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

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

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