# Nielsen (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/nielsen/  
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 Danish or from Norwegian [in turn originating as a patronymic].

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Danish |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 42,773 |
| US rank (2010) | 810 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 7,218 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.3% (41,007 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Danish and Norwegian Nielsen. Doublet of Nicholson.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Nielsen 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) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Nielsen in the United States, Australia, the Kingdom of Denmark and Canada.

## People named Nielsen

- Matthew Nielsen, Australian basketball player (born 1978)
- Beth Nielsen Chapman, American singer-songwriter
- Karoline Smidt Nielsen, association football player
- Rick Nielsen, American guitarist
- Arthur Nielsen, American market research entrepreneur (1897-1980)
- Alice Nielsen, American opera singer (1872–1943)
- Helen Nielsen, American author and script writer (1918-2002)
- Kai Nielsen, American philosopher (1926–2021)
- Teresa Nielsen Hayden, American science fiction editor and essayist (1956-)
- Paige Nielsen, American soccer player
- Jennifer A. Nielsen, American writer
- Michael A. Nielsen, Australian and Canadian physicist and writer (b.1974)

and 3 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Nelson, Nielson, Nilson, Nelsen, Neilson, Nilsen, Nilsson, Neilsen, Nelligan.

## 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.