2000
#130,443
National surname rank
First available Census row
A Polish occupational name for someone who worked with ranisz, a type of rake or harrow.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 117 Americans carry the last name Raniszewski. That puts it at #154,755 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,929,524 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Raniszewski surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
117
1 in 2,929,524
Census rank
#154,755
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
102
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 102 bearers of the surname Raniszewski in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 154755th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Raniszewski, the largest self-reported group is White at 98.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.0%) and Two or More Races (1.0%).
Origin
The surname Raniszewski originates from Poland and dates back to the late medieval period. It is thought to have derived from the Polish town of Raniszow, located in the southern region of the country. The name likely referred to someone who hailed from this settlement.
Raniszewski shares similarities with other Polish surnames containing the suffix "-owski" or "-ewski", which indicated a person's place of origin or the location of their family estate. These suffixes were commonly added to place names to form hereditary surnames during the 12th and 13th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the Raniszewski name can be found in a 16th-century manuscript from the town of Krakow, where a merchant named Jakub Raniszewski is mentioned. This document, dated 1578, suggests the name was already well-established by that time.
In the 17th century, a nobleman named Jan Raniszewski was recorded as owning a significant landholding in the village of Raniszow. His estate played a pivotal role in the local economy and influenced the region's development during that era.
A notable figure bearing the Raniszewski surname was Kazimierz Raniszewski, a Polish military officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. Born in 1785, he served under the famous Prince Józef Poniatowski and was awarded the Virtuti Militari, Poland's highest military decoration, for his bravery on the battlefield.
Another individual of note was Maria Raniszewska, a renowned soprano who performed in many of Europe's most prestigious opera houses during the late 19th century. Born in 1856 in Warsaw, she was celebrated for her roles in works by composers such as Verdi and Puccini.
In the early 20th century, a prominent figure named Tadeusz Raniszewski made significant contributions to the field of Polish literature. As a prolific writer and poet, he published numerous works that explored themes of national identity and cultural heritage. Raniszewski was born in 1892 and lived until 1976.
The Raniszewski name has also been associated with several notable academics and scholars throughout history. One such individual was Stanisław Raniszewski, a respected linguist and professor at the University of Warsaw in the mid-1800s. His research focused on Slavic languages and their historical development.
Demographics
Among Census respondents with the surname Raniszewski, the largest self-reported group is White at 98.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.0%) and Two or More Races (1.0%).
The bar chart below shows how Raniszewski bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Raniszewski surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
Timeline
Raniszewski appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2000
National surname rank
First available Census row
2010
National surname rank
-9 bearers (-7.5%)
2020
National surname rank
-9 bearers (-8.1%)
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #130,443 | 120 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #148,347 | 111 | 0.04 | -9 bearers (-7.5%) | Down 17,904 places |
| 2020 | #154,755 | 102 | 0.03 | -9 bearers (-8.1%) | Down 6,408 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
How has the Raniszewski surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #148,347 | #154,755 | -4.3% |
| Count | 111 | 102 | -8.1% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.03 | -14.7% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Raniszewski bearers went from 111 to 102 (-8.1% change). The surname moved down 6,408 positions in the national ranking, going from #148,347 to #154,755.
FAQ
Name Census estimates that about 117 living Americans carry the surname Raniszewski. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,929,524 residents.
Raniszewski ranks #154,755 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
The raw 2020 Census file counted 102 people with the surname Raniszewski. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (117), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.03 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Raniszewski.
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Raniszewski went from 111 recorded bearers to 102. That is a decrease of 9 (-8.1%). In the national ranking it fell from #148,347 to #154,755.
Among Census respondents with the surname Raniszewski, the largest self-reported group is White at 98.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.0%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Raniszewski in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.0% (100 people in the source table).
Raniszewski appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (98.0%), Hispanic (1.0%), Two or More Races (1.0%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Raniszewski (2000, 2010, 2020).
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
A Polish occupational name for someone who worked with ranisz, a type of rake or harrow. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Raniszewski (0.03 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.