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

Thielen, 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 Thielen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Thielen in America

Thielen is the 11078th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Thielen surname appeared 2,867 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Thielen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Thielen 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 Thielen

The surname Thielen has its origins in Germany, where it first emerged in the 13th century. It is derived from the Old German word "thiel," which means "valley" or "depression." This suggests that the name likely referred to someone who lived in or near a valley or low-lying area.

The earliest known record of the name Thielen can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of historical documents from Saxony, dating back to the year 1295. Here, a person named "Henningo Thielen" is mentioned as a landowner in the town of Borna.

In the 14th century, the name appeared in various forms, such as "Thylen," "Thilen," and "Thielen," in several legal documents and property records across Central Germany. One notable example is the mention of a "Johannes Thielen" in the Stadtbuch (city book) of Erfurt in 1372.

The name Thielen is also associated with several place names in Germany, such as Thielen (a village in North Rhine-Westphalia), Thielenhausen (a municipality in Bavaria), and Thielenbruch (a district in Essen). These place names likely derived from the surname itself or vice versa, reflecting the connection between the name and its geographical origins.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the surname Thielen. One of the earliest recorded was Johann Thielen (1599-1667), a German astronomer and mathematician who published works on celestial mechanics and planetary motion.

Another notable figure was Johann Philipp Thielen (1719-1789), a German composer and organist who served as the court Kapellmeister in Bamberg and wrote numerous sacred and secular works.

In the 19th century, Theodor Thielen (1810-1886) was a prominent German painter known for his landscape paintings and depictions of rural life in the Rhineland region.

More recently, Adam Thielen (born 1990) is an American football wide receiver who currently plays for the Minnesota Vikings in the National Football League (NFL).

Finally, Markus Thielen (born 1948) is a German politician who served as the Minister of Finance for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2005 to 2010.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Thielen

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

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

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

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