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

Ranta, 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 Ranta surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ranta in America

Ranta is the 24802nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ranta surname appeared 1,004 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 Ranta.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ranta 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 Ranta

The surname Ranta is of Finnish origin and dates back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Finnish word "ranta," meaning "shore" or "beach," suggesting that the name may have been given to someone who lived near the shoreline or worked as a fisherman.

The earliest recorded instances of the Ranta surname can be found in Finnish parish records from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. For example, a man named Niilo Ranta was mentioned in the records of the parish of Virolahti, in southeastern Finland, in 1598.

Ranta is a relatively common surname in Finland and can be traced to various regions of the country, including Ostrobothnia, Satakunta, and Karelia. Some notable individuals with the surname Ranta include:

1. Kasper Ranta (1616-1681), a Finnish clergyman and historian who wrote one of the earliest comprehensive histories of Finland.

2. Väinö Ranta (1876-1939), a Finnish politician and journalist who served as the Prime Minister of Finland from 1922 to 1924.

3. Eeva Ranta (1911-1992), a Finnish artist and sculptor known for her modernist works depicting human figures.

4. Arto Ranta (born 1948), a Finnish computer scientist and professor at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, known for his work on programming language theory and compiler construction.

5. Jukka Ranta (born 1977), a Finnish ice hockey player who played for several teams in the Finnish Liiga and the Swedish Hockey League.

While the Ranta surname is primarily associated with Finland, it has also been recorded in other countries with Finnish communities, such as Sweden and the United States, particularly in areas with a significant Finnish immigrant population.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ranta

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

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

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

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