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

Thiessen, 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 Thiessen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Thiessen in America

Thiessen is the 9253rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Thiessen surname appeared 3,519 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 Thiessen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Thiessen 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 Thiessen

The surname Thiessen originates from the Low German and Dutch language areas, specifically from the regions of northern Germany and the Netherlands. It is derived from the personal name Thies or Thiess, which is a shortened form of the Germanic name Theodoric or Dietrich, meaning "ruler of the people."

Thiessen is a patronymic surname, meaning it was originally formed by adding the suffix "-sen" or "-sen" to the father's given name, indicating "son of Thies." This naming convention was common in Germanic regions during the Middle Ages and early modern period.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Thiessen can be found in the Bremisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of historical documents from Bremen, Germany, dating back to the 13th century. The name is also mentioned in various medieval records and charters from the northern German regions of Holstein and Friesland.

In the 16th century, the Thiessen surname appeared in the Dutch province of Friesland, where it was sometimes spelled as "Thjessen" or "Thiyszen." This variation in spelling was common due to regional dialects and the lack of standardized spelling conventions at the time.

Notable individuals with the surname Thiessen include:

1. Gerhard Thiessen (1474-1541), a German Protestant reformer and theologian from Friesland, known for his work in promoting the Reformation in northern Germany.

2. Johann Thiessen (1640-1699), a Dutch-German artist and engraver from Hamburg, famous for his intricate copperplate etchings and portraits.

3. Anna Thiessen (1829-1892), a German-Russian Mennonite author and pioneer in the Mennonite settlements of Ukraine, known for her memoirs and writings on the Mennonite experience in Russia.

4. Cornelius Thiessen (1857-1931), a Dutch-Canadian farmer and community leader who played a significant role in the Mennonite migration from Russia to Canada in the late 19th century.

5. Jakob Thiessen (1876-1949), a German-Russian Mennonite writer and educator, known for his contributions to Mennonite literature and education in the Soviet Union.

The surname Thiessen has also been associated with various place names, such as Thiessow, a village in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Thiessenbusch, a region in the Dutch province of Friesland.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Thiessen

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

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

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

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