# Petersen (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/petersen/  
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 Danish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Danish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 58,480 |
| US rank (2010) | 571 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 5,280 people |
| Change since 2000 | +6.0% (55,185 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Danish Petersen or, less often, from Norwegian Petersen.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Petersen 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) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Petersen in the United States, Australia, the Kingdom of Denmark and the Russian Empire.

## People named Petersen

- William Petersen, American actor (born 1953)
- Paul Petersen, actor, writer, activist
- Colin Petersen, Australian actor and musician (1946–2024)
- Sandy Petersen, American game designer (born 1955)
- Cal Petersen, American ice hockey player
- Toby Petersen, American ice hockey player
- Forrest Silas Petersen, American Naval Rear Admiral (1922–1990)
- Mads Conrad-Petersen, badminton player
- Hjalmar Petersen, American politician (1890–1968)
- Wilhelm Petersen, Baltic German lepidopterist (1854-1933)

## Similar surnames

Peterson, Pedersen, Pederson, Petterson, Pettersen, Peters, Petrosky, Peterkin, Petersheim, Petrus, Petras, Petrosyan.

## 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.