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Name Lineage

    The surname Biss

    A German nickname surname, carried by 775 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex B200

    Biss: #30,222 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Biss #30,222, 775 people Biss: #30,222 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Biss #30,222, 775 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Biss is more common than 81.4% of them.

    Origin

    German origin

    Two main origins: * English surname from Middle English bis (“dark, murky, gray”), an adjective related to French bis (“beige”) and Italian bigio (“ash gray, dun”). * Borrowed from German Biss (“bite”), a nickname for a cutting, sarcastic person.

    Biss is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

    One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 775 people named Biss in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 398,381 Americans. That is down 8.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 842.

    #30,222
    rank among US surnames
    775
    people in 2010
    0.3
    per 100,000 Americans
    -8%
    change since 2000 (was #27,049)

    Who is named Biss

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    96% of people named Biss identified as white (not Hispanic), 1.2% as American Indian and Alaska Native and 1.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 96%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 1.2%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.0%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.9%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Multiracial are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Surnames that sound like Biss

    Biss has the Soundex code B200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B200.

    Other German surnames

    All 1,101 German surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Biss come from?
    Two main origins: * English surname from Middle English bis (“dark, murky, gray”), an adjective related to French bis (“beige”) and Italian bigio (“ash gray, dun”). * Borrowed from German Biss (“bite”), a nickname for a cutting, sarcastic person.
    How common is the surname Biss?
    775 people in the United States had the surname Biss in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 398,381 Americans. It ranked 30,222nd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Biss?
    In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Biss identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.2% as American Indian and Alaska Native.
    What type of surname is Biss?
    Biss is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
    Is the surname Biss getting more or less common?
    Less common. 842 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 775 in 2010, down 8.0%.
    What are other spellings of Biss?
    Beese.