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

Verhulst, 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 Verhulst surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Verhulst in America

Verhulst is the 32339th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Verhulst surname appeared 712 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 Verhulst.

We can also compare 2010 data for Verhulst 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 Verhulst

The surname Verhulst originated in the Flanders region of modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Dutch words "ver" meaning "far" and "hulst" meaning "holly bush," indicating that the name likely referred to someone who lived near a holly bush or thicket far from a town or village.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in a 14th-century manuscript from the town of Ghent, which mentions a "Jan Verhulst" as a landowner in the area. Another early reference is found in a 1412 document from the city of Bruges, which lists a "Pieter Verhulst" as a member of the local guild of weavers.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Verhulst name became more widespread throughout the Low Countries, with several notable individuals bearing the surname. One example is the Flemish painter Guilliam Verhulst (1578-1630), known for his still life and genre paintings.

In the 18th century, a branch of the Verhulst family settled in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), and one of their descendants, Johannes Frederic Verhulst (1804-1849), became a renowned mathematician and is credited with developing the Verhulst equation, which models the growth of populations over time.

Another notable figure was the Belgian philosopher and psychologist Guillaume Verhulst (1855-1940), who made significant contributions to the field of experimental psychology and was a pioneer in the study of human perception and attention.

As the Verhulst name spread beyond the Low Countries, it also found its way to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas. One example is the French-Canadian author and journalist Victor-Alphonse Verhulst (1886-1957), who was a prominent figure in the literary and cultural circles of Quebec in the early 20th century.

While the Verhulst surname is still most common in Belgium and the Netherlands, it can be found in various spellings and forms around the world, reflecting the migration patterns and histories of those who bore this name throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Verhulst

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

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

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

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