# Paulson (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/paulson/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname originating as a patronymic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 19,331 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,857 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 15,972 people |
| Change since 2000 | +0.2% (19,299 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Paul + -son. Found parallel in many other languages, such as Norwegian and Danish Poulsen, Polish Pawelowicz, Slovene Pavič, Pavlovič etc.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Paulson 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) | 0.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

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

## People named Paulson

- Sarah Paulson, American actress
- Henry Paulson, 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- John Paulson, American family office manager
- Bjørn Paulson, Athletics competitor and jurist (1923–2008)
- Barbara Paulson, American former human computer at NASA
- Jay Paulson, American actor

## Similar surnames

Paulsen, Polson, Poulsen, Poulson, Plascencia, Pleasant, Pilkington, Placencia, Plasencia, Peloquin, Plaisance, Polzin.

## 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.