How common is the surname Nielsen?

42,773 people in the United States had the surname Nielsen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,218 Americans. It ranked 810th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Nielsen?

In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Nielsen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Nielsen?

Matthew Nielsen, Australian basketball player (born 1978), followed by Beth Nielsen Chapman.

Where is the surname Nielsen most common?

Wikidata records people named Nielsen in the United States, Australia and the Kingdom of Denmark and 1 other country.

Is the surname Nielsen getting more or less common?

More common. 41,007 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 42,773 in 2010, up 4.3%.

The surname Nielsen

A Danish patronymic surname, carried by 42,773 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex N425

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Nielsen is more common than 99.5% of them.

Origin

Danish origin

Borrowed from Danish and Norwegian Nielsen. Doublet of Nicholson.

Nielsen is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

One of 50 Danish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 42,773 people named Nielsen in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 7,218 Americans. That is up 4.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 41,007.

#810

rank among US surnames

42,773

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+4.3%

change since 2000 (was #765)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#801	McLean	43,260	7,137
#802	Hendricks	43,197	7,147
#803	Calhoun	43,180	7,150
#804	Sexton	43,133	7,158
#805	Chung	43,110	7,162
#806	Gentry	43,027	7,176
#807	Hull	43,018	7,177

Who is named Nielsen

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

94% of people named Nielsen identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.5% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
Two or more races 1.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Nielsens

15 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Matthew Nielsen
Australian basketball player (born 1978)
Beth Nielsen Chapman
American singer-songwriter, born 1958
Karoline Smidt Nielsen
Association football player, born 1994
Rick Nielsen
American guitarist, born 1948
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, born 1993
Jennifer A. Nielsen
American writer, born 1971
Michael A. Nielsen
Australian and Canadian physicist and writer (b.1974)

Notable Nielsens come mostly from the United States (10), Australia (3) and the Kingdom of Denmark (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Nielsen

Nielsen has the Soundex code N425, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code N425.

Other Danish surnames

All 50 Danish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Nielsen come from?: Borrowed from Danish and Norwegian Nielsen. Doublet of Nicholson.
How common is the surname Nielsen?: 42,773 people in the United States had the surname Nielsen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,218 Americans. It ranked 810th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Nielsen?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Nielsen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Nielsen?: Matthew Nielsen, Australian basketball player (born 1978), followed by Beth Nielsen Chapman.
Where is the surname Nielsen most common?: Wikidata records people named Nielsen in the United States, Australia and the Kingdom of Denmark and 1 other country.
What type of surname is Nielsen?: Nielsen is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Nielsen getting more or less common?: More common. 41,007 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 42,773 in 2010, up 4.3%.