# Foss (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 14,094 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,563 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 21,906 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.6% (13,737 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Meaning "fox". From Old Saxon fohs, fuhs, from Proto-West Germanic *fuhs, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Foss 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) | 94% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.0% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Foss in the United States.

## People named Foss

- Lukas Foss, American composer (1922-2009)
- Frank Foss, American pole vaulter (1895–1989)
- Eugene Foss, American politician (1858-1939)

## Similar surnames

Foos, Fuss, Fouse, Foose, Fossey, Foshee, Foskey, Fox, Fish, Fuchs, Fisk, Fusco.

## 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.