Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname Paulsen

    A Danish surname, carried by 11,243 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex P425

    Paulsen: #3,211 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Paulsen #3,211, 11,243 people Paulsen: #3,211 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Paulsen #3,211, 11,243 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Paulsen is more common than 98% of them.

    Origin

    Danish origin

    Borrowed from Danish and Norwegian Paulsen.

    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 11,243 people named Paulsen in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 27,461 Americans. That is up 1.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,121.

    #3,211
    rank among US surnames
    11,243
    people in 2010
    3.8
    per 100,000 Americans
    +1.1%
    change since 2000 (was #2,979)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #3,202Apodaca11,28027,371
    #3,203Royer11,27927,373
    #3,204Colby11,27827,376
    #3,205Daily11,27627,381
    #3,206Hammons11,27327,388
    #3,207Pemberton11,27227,390
    #3,208Wellman11,26027,420

    Who is named Paulsen

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

    94% of people named Paulsen identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 94%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
    • Two or more races 1.4%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.4%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Paulsens

    5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Rob Paulsen
      American voice actor and voice director, born 1956
    • Gary Paulsen
      American writer (1939–2021)
    • Erik Paulsen
      American politician (born 1965)
    • Pat Paulsen
      American actor (1927-1997)
    • Jan Paulsen
      Badminton player, born 1967

    Notable Paulsens come mostly from the United States (4) and the Kingdom of Denmark (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Paulsen

    Paulsen has the Soundex code P425, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P425.

    Other Danish surnames

    All 50 Danish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Paulsen come from?
    Borrowed from Danish and Norwegian Paulsen.
    How common is the surname Paulsen?
    11,243 people in the United States had the surname Paulsen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 27,461 Americans. It ranked 3,211th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Paulsen?
    In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Paulsen identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Paulsen?
    Rob Paulsen, American voice actor and voice director, followed by Gary Paulsen.
    Where is the surname Paulsen most common?
    Wikidata records people named Paulsen in the United States and the Kingdom of Denmark.
    Is the surname Paulsen getting more or less common?
    More common. 11,121 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,243 in 2010, up 1.1%.