How common is the surname Nilsen?

4,158 people in the United States had the surname Nilsen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 74,253 Americans. It ranked 7,956th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Nilsen?

In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Nilsen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Nilsen?

Chris Nilsen, American pole vaulter, followed by Harald Christian Strand Nilsen.

Where is the surname Nilsen most common?

Wikidata records people named Nilsen in the United States and Norway.

Is the surname Nilsen getting more or less common?

More common. 3,860 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,158 in 2010, up 7.7%.

The surname Nilsen

A Norwegian surname, carried by 4,158 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). Nilsen is more common than 95.1% of them.

Origin

Norwegian origin

Borrowed from Norwegian Nilsen.

One of 31 Norwegian surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,158 people named Nilsen in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 74,253 Americans. That is up 7.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 3,860.

#7,956

rank among US surnames

4,158

people in 2010

1.4

per 100,000 Americans

+7.7%

change since 2000 (was #7,951)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,953	Papp	4,162	74,182
#7,954	Gagliano	4,161	74,200
#7,955	Beech	4,160	74,218
#7,956	Tarantino	4,158	74,253
#7,958	Nipper	4,157	74,271

Who is named Nilsen

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

94% of people named Nilsen identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.4%
Two or more races 1.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Nilsens

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Chris Nilsen
American pole vaulter, born 1998
Harald Christian Strand Nilsen
Alpine skier, born 1971

Notable Nilsens come mostly from the United States (1) and Norway (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Nilsen

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

Other Norwegian surnames

All 31 Norwegian surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Nilsen come from?: Borrowed from Norwegian Nilsen.
How common is the surname Nilsen?: 4,158 people in the United States had the surname Nilsen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 74,253 Americans. It ranked 7,956th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Nilsen?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Nilsen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Nilsen?: Chris Nilsen, American pole vaulter, followed by Harald Christian Strand Nilsen.
Where is the surname Nilsen most common?: Wikidata records people named Nilsen in the United States and Norway.
Is the surname Nilsen getting more or less common?: More common. 3,860 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,158 in 2010, up 7.7%.