# Ess (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/ess/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from German.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | German |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 523 |
| US rank (2010) | 41,579 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 590,336 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.2% (524 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a north/Low German surname, from the archaic noun es, ehe (“swamp water”), possibly from a corruption of *ahu (“stream, river”). * As a Switzerland German/Alemannic German surname, from Ess (“pasture, grazing area”), from Proto-Germanic *atiska- (“grainfield”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂edos- (“sort of cereal, grain”), related to Latin ador (“spelt”), Hittite [script needed] (ḫattāi-, “to cut (grain)”). * Also as a Swiss German surname, from a short form of Oswald. * As a Dutch surname, shortened from Van Ess, itself a variant of Van Es, from van + the placename Esch in North Brabant.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Ess in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 2.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.7% |
| Two or more races | 2.7% |

## Similar surnames

Esh, Eck, Eskew, Esch, Eich, Ek, Eash, Eguia, Eick, Esau, Egge, Escue.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.