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

Tiessen, 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 Tiessen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tiessen in America

Tiessen is the 121590th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tiessen surname appeared 142 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 Tiessen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tiessen 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 Tiessen

The surname Tiessen has its origins in the Frisian language, which is a West Germanic language spoken in the coastal regions of the Netherlands and Germany. The name is believed to have originated in the 16th or 17th century in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands.

Tiessen is a patronymic surname, meaning it was derived from the given name of the father or an ancestor. It is thought to be a variant of the name Tiesing, which itself is a diminutive form of the Frisian given name Tyes or Thys, a variant of the name Matthias or Matthew.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Tiessen can be found in the Dutch Reformed Church records of Friesland in the 17th century. In these records, the name is sometimes spelled as Tiesen or Tyesen, reflecting the variations in spelling that were common in that era.

In the 18th century, the surname Tiessen began to spread beyond the borders of Friesland as families migrated to other parts of the Netherlands and Germany. One notable bearer of the name was Pieter Tiessen (1714-1786), a Dutch painter from the city of Leeuwarden in Friesland.

During the 19th century, many families bearing the surname Tiessen immigrated to North America, particularly to the United States and Canada. One of the earliest recorded Tiessens in North America was Peter Tiessen (1800-1885), who arrived in Ontario, Canada, from the Netherlands in the 1830s.

Other notable individuals with the surname Tiessen include Elias Tiessen (1835-1899), a Mennonite minister and farmer in Ontario, Canada; Cornelius Tiessen (1847-1926), a Mennonite bishop and author in Manitoba, Canada; and Reinhardt Tiessen (1879-1962), a German-American artist and illustrator.

In summary, the surname Tiessen has its roots in the Frisian language and culture of the Netherlands, and it has been borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including artists, religious leaders, and farmers, throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tiessen

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!