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

Sorenson, 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 Sorenson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sorenson in America

Sorenson is the 2284th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sorenson surname appeared 15,962 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 people would have the surname Sorenson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sorenson 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 Sorenson

The surname Sorenson is of Scandinavian origin, specifically Danish and Norwegian. It is a patronymic surname, meaning it was originally derived from the given name of the father or an ancestor. Sorenson translates to "son of Soren" or "son of Soren." Soren is a variant of the name Severin, which is derived from the Latin name Severinus, meaning "stern" or "severe."

The Sorenson surname is believed to have first appeared in Denmark and Norway during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. It was common in these regions for surnames to be formed by adding the suffix "-son" to the father's given name, creating a patronymic surname.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Sorenson surname is found in the Diplomatarium Norvegicum, a collection of medieval Norwegian diplomas and documents. In this collection, there are references to individuals with the surname Sorenson dating back to the 14th century.

Another notable historical reference is the appearance of the Sorenson surname in the Icelandic sagas, which are prose narratives written in Old Norse that recount the lives of Icelandic families and their ancestors. Several characters with the surname Sorenson are mentioned in these sagas, which date back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the surname Sorenson:

1. Hans Sorenson (1539-1623), a Danish admiral and naval officer who served under King Christian IV of Denmark.
2. Peter Sorenson (1776-1859), a Norwegian-American farmer and pioneer who was one of the first Norwegian settlers in the Midwest region of the United States.
3. Theodore Sorenson (1928-2010), an American lawyer, writer, and presidential adviser who served as a speechwriter and counsel for President John F. Kennedy.
4. Lene Sorenson (born 1952), a Danish author and journalist known for her novels and children's books.
5. Bjarne Stroustrup (born 1950), a Danish computer scientist and the designer and original implementer of the C++ programming language. Stroustrup was born Bjarne Sorenson but later changed his surname.

The Sorenson surname has also been associated with various place names, particularly in Scandinavia. For example, the village of Sorenson in Denmark is believed to have derived its name from the surname, indicating that it was likely founded or settled by individuals with that surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sorenson

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

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

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

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