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

Thanos, 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 Thanos surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Thanos in America

Thanos is the 56444th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Thanos surname appeared 362 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 Thanos.

We can also compare 2010 data for Thanos 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 Thanos

The surname THANOS has its origins in ancient Greece, where it is believed to have first emerged around the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the Greek word "thanatos," which translates to "death" or "mortality." This connection to the concept of death may stem from the name's association with the mythological figure Thanatos, the personification of death in Greek mythology.

In the early days of its use, the name THANOS was primarily found in the regions of Attica and the Peloponnese, where it was borne by families of varying social standing. One of the earliest documented instances of the name can be traced back to a manuscript from the 3rd century BCE, which mentions a man named Thanosios, a merchant from the city of Corinth.

As the centuries passed, the name THANOS underwent various spelling variations, such as Thanatos, Thanatopoulos, and Thanatouris, reflecting the influence of local dialects and linguistic shifts. These variations were often indicative of the bearer's place of origin or familial lineage.

In the Byzantine era, between the 4th and 15th centuries CE, the name THANOS gained prominence among the Greek aristocracy and scholarly circles. One notable figure was Konstantinos Thanos (1140-1210), a renowned philosopher and theologian from Constantinople, who authored several treatises on the nature of the soul and the afterlife.

During the Ottoman occupation of Greece, which lasted from the 15th to the early 19th century, the name THANOS became less common, as many Greek families adopted more inconspicuous names to avoid persecution. However, it persisted in certain regions, particularly in the Peloponnese and the Greek islands.

In the 19th century, as Greece gained independence and the modern Greek state emerged, the name THANOS experienced a resurgence. One prominent bearer was Georgios Thanos (1820-1892), a politician and diplomat who played a crucial role in the negotiations for the cession of the Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864.

Other notable individuals with the surname THANOS include:

1. Alexandros Thanos (1862-1935), a renowned Greek painter and one of the pioneers of the Munich School of Greek art.
2. Ioannis Thanos (1890-1972), a Greek army officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 1958 to 1961.
3. Konstantinos Thanos (1915-2001), a celebrated Greek actor and director, known for his contributions to the Greek National Theatre and his roles in several classic Greek films.
4. Michalis Thanos (1933-2020), a prominent Greek composer and songwriter, whose works spanned various genres, including rebetiko, laiko, and entehno.
5. Evangelos Thanos (born 1965), a contemporary Greek artist and sculptor, renowned for his large-scale public installations and artworks that explore themes of memory and identity.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Thanos

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

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

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

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