# Ostrom (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/ostrom/  
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 Swedish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Swedish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,485 |
| US rank (2010) | 9,343 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 88,593 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.3% (3,441 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Swedish Öström, an ornamental surname composed of the elements ö (“island”) and ström (“stream”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Ostrom 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) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Ostrom in the United States.

## People named Ostrom

- Elinor Ostrom, American political economist (1933-2012)
- John Ostrom, American paleontologist (1928-2005)
- Meredith Ostrom, American actress

## Similar surnames

Ostrander, Ostrowski, Oster, Osterman, Osterhout, Ostrow, Osterhoudt, Ostroff, Ostrovsky, Oestreich, Osterberg.

## 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.