2010
#136,449
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 123
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Sakson
A surname indicating the person descended from someone from the region of Saxony or with Saxon heritage.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 134 Americans carry the last name Sakson. That puts it at #144,270 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,557,868 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Sakson 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
134
1 in 2,557,868
Census rank
#144,270
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
117
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 117 bearers of the surname Sakson in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 144270th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Sakson, the largest self-reported group is White at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Sakson
The surname Sakson is believed to have originated in Germany during the medieval period. It is derived from the Old German word "Sachsen," which referred to the people of the historical region of Saxony. This region was located in what is now eastern Germany and parts of western Poland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sakson can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from the Kingdom of Saxony. This codex includes references to individuals with the surname Sakson from as early as the 11th century.
Historically, the name Sakson was often associated with individuals who hailed from the Saxony region or had ancestral ties to the Saxon people. In the 13th century, a nobleman named Konrad Sakson was recorded as the owner of several estates in the region of Meissen, which was part of the historical Duchy of Saxony.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure with the surname Sakson was Johannes Sakson, a German mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1499 to 1558. He made significant contributions to the field of cartography and is credited with creating one of the earliest maps of Saxony.
Another historical figure with the surname Sakson was Friedrich Sakson, a 17th-century German composer and organist who served at various churches in Leipzig and Dresden. He was born in 1623 and died in 1682.
In the 18th century, a prominent individual with the surname Sakson was August Sakson, a German jurist and legal scholar who was born in 1721 and died in 1794. He authored several influential works on German civil law and served as a professor at the University of Leipzig.
During the 19th century, a notable person with the surname Sakson was Karl Sakson, a German painter and illustrator who lived from 1825 to 1892. He was renowned for his detailed illustrations of historical events and landscapes, including several depictions of the Saxony region.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sakson
Among Census respondents with the surname Sakson, the largest self-reported group is White at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Sakson 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 Sakson surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.4% · 114
- Two or more races1.7% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Sakson
Sakson appears in 2 published Census surname files: 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2020
#144,270
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 117
-6 bearers (-4.9%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Down 7,821 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | #136,449 | 123 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2020 | #144,270 | 117 | 0.04 | -6 bearers (-4.9%) | Down 7,821 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
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Sakson surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #136,449 | #144,270 | -5.7% |
| Count | 123 | 117 | -4.9% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.04 | -2.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Sakson bearers went from 123 to 117 (-4.9% change). The surname moved down 7,821 positions in the national ranking, going from #136,449 to #144,270.
FAQ
Sakson surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Sakson?
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the surname Sakson. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,557,868 residents.
How common is Sakson?
Sakson ranks #144,270 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 117 people with the surname Sakson. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (134), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 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 Sakson.
Has Sakson become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Sakson went from 123 recorded bearers to 117. That is a decrease of 6 (-4.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #136,449 to #144,270.
What does the Census say about the background of Sakson?
Among Census respondents with the surname Sakson, the largest self-reported group is White at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Sakson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.4% (114 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Sakson appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (97.4%), Two or More Races (1.7%), Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
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 Sakson (2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
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.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
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.
What does Sakson mean?
A surname indicating the person descended from someone from the region of Saxony or with Saxon heritage. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
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.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
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 Sakson (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people are called Sakson?
For a quick modern take, check how common the surname Sakson is on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.