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

Terlouw, 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 Terlouw surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Terlouw in America

Terlouw is the 84136th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Terlouw surname appeared 223 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 Terlouw.

We can also compare 2010 data for Terlouw 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 Terlouw

The surname Terlouw has its origins in the Netherlands. It is derived from the Dutch words 'ter' meaning 'at the' and 'louw' meaning 'forest grove or wooded area'. The name likely originated as a descriptive term referring to someone who lived near or in a forested area.

Terlouw is thought to have emerged as a surname in the late medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century. The earliest recorded instances of the name appear in records from the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht. Variations in spelling include Terlouwe, Terlauwe, and Terlauw.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Jan Terlouw, who lived in the Dutch city of Arnhem in the late 15th century. Another early record shows a Henrick Terlouw residing in the town of Rijnsburg near Leiden in the early 16th century.

The name Terlouw is also associated with several notable historical figures. Jelle Zijlstra Terlouw (1766-1833) was a Dutch politician who served as a member of the Batavian National Assembly in the late 18th century. Joost Terlouw (1816-1896) was a Dutch theologian and professor at the University of Utrecht.

Pieter Terlouw (1922-2022) was a Dutch politician and writer who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands in the late 1960s. He was also a noted author, penning several novels and works of non-fiction.

Other notable individuals with the surname Terlouw include Willem Terlouw (1891-1963), a Dutch architect and urban planner, and Reinier Terlouw (1941-2022), a Dutch journalist and news anchor.

While the name Terlouw is most commonly found in the Netherlands, it has also been adopted by Dutch emigrants and their descendants in countries like the United States, Canada, and South Africa.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Terlouw

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

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

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

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