How common is the surname Paulson?

19,331 people in the United States had the surname Paulson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 15,972 Americans. It ranked 1,857th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Paulson?

In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Paulson identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Paulson?

Sarah Paulson, American actress, followed by Henry Paulson.

Where is the surname Paulson most common?

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

Is the surname Paulson getting more or less common?

More common. 19,299 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 19,331 in 2010, up 0.2%.

The surname Paulson

A patronymic surname, carried by 19,331 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex P425

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Paulson is more common than 98.9% of them.

Origin

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

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

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 19,331 people named Paulson in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 15,972 Americans. That is about the same as in 2000, when the Census counted 19,299.

#1,857

rank among US surnames

19,331

people in 2010

6.5

per 100,000 Americans

+0.2%

change since 2000 (was #1,705)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,848	Arteaga	19,410	15,907
#1,849	Jiang	19,409	15,907
#1,851	Whitman	19,399	15,916
#1,852	Burkett	19,369	15,940
#1,853	Koehler	19,368	15,941
#1,854	Christiansen	19,340	15,964
#1,855	Sheldon	19,339	15,965

Who is named Paulson

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

94% of people named Paulson identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.1%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Paulsons

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Sarah Paulson
American actress, born 1974
Henry Paulson
74th United States Secretary of the Treasury, born 1946
John Paulson
American family office manager, born 1955
Bjørn Paulson
Athletics competitor and jurist (1923–2008)
Barbara Paulson
American former human computer at NASA, 1928–2023
Jay Paulson
American actor, born 1978

Notable Paulsons come mostly from the United States (5) and Norway (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Paulson

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

Questions

Where does the surname Paulson come from?: From Paul + -son. Found parallel in many other languages, such as Norwegian and Danish Poulsen, Polish Pawelowicz, Slovene Pavič, Pavlovič etc.
How common is the surname Paulson?: 19,331 people in the United States had the surname Paulson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 15,972 Americans. It ranked 1,857th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Paulson?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Paulson identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Paulson?: Sarah Paulson, American actress, followed by Henry Paulson.
Where is the surname Paulson most common?: Wikidata records people named Paulson in the United States and Norway.
What type of surname is Paulson?: Paulson is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Paulson getting more or less common?: More common. 19,299 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 19,331 in 2010, up 0.2%.