How common is the surname Hess?

59,486 people in the United States had the surname Hess in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,190 Americans. It ranked 564th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Hess?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Hess identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Hess?

Victor Francis Hess, Austrian physicist and Nobel prize laureate (1883-1964), followed by Harry Hammond Hess.

Where is the surname Hess most common?

Wikidata records people named Hess in the United States, Germany and Norway.

Is the surname Hess getting more or less common?

More common. 57,822 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 59,486 in 2010, up 2.9%.

The surname Hess

A German place surname, carried by 59,486 people in the United States.

Pronounced /hɛs/ 1 syllable Soundex H200

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Hess is more common than 99.7% of them.

Origin

German origin

A habitational surname from German of German and Ashkenazi origin, denoting a person from Hesse.

Hess is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

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 59,486 people named Hess in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 5,190 Americans. That is up 2.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 57,822.

#564

rank among US surnames

59,486

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+2.9%

change since 2000 (was #518)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#555	Mercado	60,761	5,081
#556	Santana	60,667	5,089
#557	Shepherd	60,479	5,105
#558	Bautista	60,264	5,123
#559	Ali	60,002	5,146
#560	Shaffer	59,943	5,151
#561	Lamb	59,913	5,153

Who is named Hess

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

95% of people named Hess identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Hesss

11 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Victor Francis Hess
Austrian physicist and Nobel prize laureate (1883-1964)
Harry Hammond Hess
American geologist (1906–1969)
Leonhard Hess Stejneger
Biologist (1851-1943)
David Hess
American actor singer and songwriter (1936-2011)
Heinrich von Hess
Austrian Field Marshal (1788-1870)
Wolf Rüdiger Hess
Architect and writer; Son of Rudolf Hess (1937-2001)
Karl Hess
American journalist, writer and libertarian (1923–1994)
Hans Hess
Bobsledder, born 1902
Adam Hess
American professional basketball player, born 1981
Robert Hess
American chess player, born 1991
Michael A. Hess
American lawyer (1952-1995)

Notable Hesss come mostly from the United States (7), Germany (2) and Norway (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Hess

Hess has the Soundex code H200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code H200.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Hess come from?: Hess is German in origin.
How common is the surname Hess?: 59,486 people in the United States had the surname Hess in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,190 Americans. It ranked 564th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Hess?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Hess identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Hess?: Victor Francis Hess, Austrian physicist and Nobel prize laureate (1883-1964), followed by Harry Hammond Hess.
Where is the surname Hess most common?: Wikidata records people named Hess in the United States, Germany and Norway.
How do you pronounce Hess?: Hess is /hɛs/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Hess?: Hess is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Hess getting more or less common?: More common. 57,822 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 59,486 in 2010, up 2.9%.