Ancestry in the United States*


All figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau Report.

The Census Bureau defines ancestry as a person's ethnic origin, racial heritage, descent, or "roots," which may reflect their place of birth, place of birth of parents or ancestors, and ethnic identities that have evolved within the United States.



A few notes about the data:
  • Some ancestries are general may encompass several ancestries not listed separately (i.e., African American, White).
  • People who reported two ancestries were included once in each category.
  • "NS" = Not statistically different from zero at the 90-percent confidence level

    sort by: alphabetical | total population | fastest-growing | largest increase


    19902000Change, 1990 to 2000
    AncestryNumberPercentNumberPercentNumberPercent
    Total population248,709,873100.0281,421,906100.032,712,03313.2
    African * 245,8450.11,183,3160.4937,471381.3
    African American *1,2 23,750,2569.524,903,4128.81,153,1564.9
    Albanian 47,710-113,661-65,951138.2
    American * 12,395,9995.020,188,3057.27,792,30662.9
    American Indian * 8,689,3443.57,876,5682.8-812,776-9.4
    Arab * 127,3640.1205,8220.178,45861.6
    Armenian308,0960.1385,4880.177,39225.1
    Asian *107,172-238,9600.1131,788123.0
    Asian Indian 569,3380.21,546,7030.5977,365171.7
    Austrian 864,7830.3730,3360.3-134,447-15.5
    Belgian380,4030.2348,5310.1-31,872-8.4
    Brazilian65,875-181,0760.1115,201174.9
    British1,119,1400.41,085,7180.4-33,422-3.0
    Cambodian 2 134,9550.1197,0930.162,13846.0
    Canadian549,9900.2638,5480.288,55816.1
    Chinese 1,505,2290.62,271,5620.8766,33350.9
    Colombian351,7170.1583,9860.2232,26966.0
    Croatian 1 544,2700.2374,2410.1-170,029-31.2
    Cuban 859,7390.31,097,5940.4237,85527.7
    Czech1,296,3690.51,258,4520.4-37,917-2.9
    Czechoslovakian 315,2850.1441,4030.2126,11840.0
    Danish 1,634,6480.71,430,8970.5-203,751-12.5
    Dominican 1,2505,6900.2908,5310.3402,84179.7
    Dutch 6,226,3392.54,541,7701.6-1,684,569-27.1
    Ecuadorian1 197,3740.1322,9650.1125,59163.6
    Egyptian 78,574-142,8320.164,25881.8
    English32,651,78813.124,509,6928.7-8,142,096-24.9
    European * 466,7180.21,968,6960.71,501,978321.8
    Filipino 1,450,5120.62,116,4780.8665,96645.9
    Finnish 658,8540.3623,5590.2-35,295-5.4
    French 10,320,6564.18,309,6663.0-2,010,990-19.5
    French Canadian 1,22,167,1270.92,349,6840.8182,5578.4
    German 1 57,947,17123.342,841,56915.2-15,105,602-26.1
    Greek1,110,2920.41,153,2950.443,0033.9
    Guatemalan 241,5590.1463,5020.2221,94391.9
    Guyanese 81,665-162,4250.180,76098.9
    Haitian 1,2 289,5210.1548,1990.2258,67889.3
    Hawaiian 256,0810.1334,8580.178,77730.8
    Hispanic * 1,113,2590.42,451,1090.91,337,850120.2
    Hmong84,823-140,528-55,70565.7
    Honduran 116,635-266,8480.1150,213128.8
    Hungarian 1,582,3020.61,398,7020.5-183,600-11.6
    Iranian 235,5210.1338,2660.1102,74543.6
    Irish138,735,53915.630,524,79910.8-8,210,740-21.2
    Israeli 81,677-106,839-25,16230.8
    Italian 1,2 14,664,1895.915,638,3485.6974,1596.6
    Jamaican 1,2435,0240.2736,5130.3301,48969.3
    Japanese1,004,6220.41,103,3250.498,7039.8
    Korean 1,2836,9870.31,190,3530.4353,36642.2
    Laotian146,9470.1179,8660.132,91922.4
    Latin American * 43,521-250,0520.1206,531474.6
    Lebanese 1,2 394,1800.2440,2790.246,09911.7
    Lithuanian 811,8650.3659,9920.2-151,873-18.7
    Mexican 1,211,580,0384.718,382,2916.56,802,25358.7
    Nicaraguan 177,0770.1230,3580.153,28130.1
    Nigerian 1,291,499-164,6910.173,19280.0
    Northern European *65,993-163,6570.197,664148.0
    Norwegian 2 3,869,3951.64,477,7251.6608,33015.7
    Pakistani 99,974-253,1930.1153,219153.3
    Panamanian 88,649-119,497-30,84834.8
    Pennsylvania German 305,8410.1255,8070.1-50,034-16.4
    Peruvian 161,8660.1292,9910.1131,12581.0
    Polish 1,29,366,0513.88,977,2353.2-388,816-4.2
    Portuguese 1,148,8570.51,173,6910.424,8342.2
    Puerto Rican1,955,3230.82,652,5980.9697,27535.7
    Romanian 365,5310.1367,2780.11,747(NS)
    Russian 2,951,3731.22,652,2140.9-299,159-10.1
    Salvadoran 499,1530.2802,7430.3303,59060.8
    Scandinavian 678,8800.3425,0990.2-253,781-37.4
    Scotch-Irish5,617,7732.34,319,2321.5-1,298,541-23.1
    Scottish 5,393,5812.24,890,5811.7-503,000-9.3
    Serbian 116,795-140,337-235,4220.2
    Slavic 76,923-127,136-50,21365.3
    Slovak 1 1,882,8970.8797,7640.3-1,085,133-57.6
    Slovene 124,4370.1176,6910.152,25442.0
    Spaniard 360,8580.1299,9480.1-60,910-16.9
    Spanish 2,024,0040.82,187,1440.8163,1408.1
    Swedish4,680,8631.93,998,3101.4-682,553-14.6
    Swiss 1,045,4920.4911,5020.3-133,990-12.8
    Syrian129,6060.1142,8970.113,29110.3
    Taiwanese 1,2192,9730.1293,5680.1100,59552.1
    Thai 1 112,117-146,5770.134,46030.7
    Trinidadian and Tobagonian 76,270-164,7380.188,468116.0
    Turkish83,850-117,575-33,72540.2
    Ukrainian 1,2740,7230.3892,9220.3152,19920.5
    United States * 643,5610.3404,3280.1-239,233-37.2
    Vietnamese535,8250.21,029,4200.4493,59592.1
    Welsh2,033,8930.81,753,7940.6-280,099-13.8
    West Indian * 159,1670.1147,2220.1-11,945-7.5
    Western European * 42,409-125,300-82,891195.5
    White *1,799,7110.73,834,1221.42,034,411113.0
    Yugoslavian 257,9860.1328,5470.170,56127.4
    Other ancestries 3,989,7281.64,380,3801.6390,6529.8

    - Rounds to 0.0.

    People in America Series: Ancestry in the United States

    "*": General response which may encompass several ancestries not listed separately (i.e., African American includes Black and Negro).

    "NS": Not statistically different from zero at the 90-percent confidence level.

    "1": Included in the list of examples on the census questionnaire in 1990.

    "2": Included in the list of examples on the census questionnaire in 2000.

    Notes: Because of sampling error, the estimates in this table may not be significantly different from one another or from other ancestries not listed in this table.

    People who reported two ancestries were included once in each category. The estimates in this table differ slightly in some cases from the estimates in other data products due to the collapsing schemes used. For example, here German does not include Bavarian. Some groups correspond to groups identified separately in the race and Hispanic-origin questions. The race item provides the primary source of data for White, Black, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian groups, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander groups. The Hispanic-origin question is the primary identifier for Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Hispanic groups.

    Editor's note: the ethnic and racial terms used on this page (e.g. "Negro") are those used by the Bureau of the U.S. Census, not the choice of the owners of this web site.

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Census and Census 2000 special tabulations.





  • Table key

    Data derived from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (2010).
    • Count Number of occurrences: Estimate of the number of people with the surname in the United States. (s) means the data was suppressed for privacy.
    • #/100K Occurrences / 100,000 people: The number of occurrences of a given surname per 100,000 in the United States.
    • % White % Non-Hispanic White Only: Percentage of people with a given surname who classified themselves as "non-hispanic white" (race)
    • % Black % Non-Hispanic Black Only: Percentage of people with a given surname who classified themselves as "non-hispanic black" (race)
    • % API % Non-Hispanic Asian & Pacific Islander Only: Percentage of people with a given surname who classified themselves as "non-hispanic Asian & Pacific Islander" (race)
    • % AIAN % Non-Hispanic American Indian & Alaskan Native Only: Percentage of people with a given surname who classified themselves as "non-hispanic American Indian & Alaskan Native" (race)
    • % 2 or More Races % Non-Hispanic of 2 or More Races: Percentage of people with a given surname who classified themselves as "non-hispanic two or more races" (race)
    • % Hispanic % Hispanic Origin: Percentage of people with a given surname who classified themselves as "Hispanic origin" (race)
    • Rank in 2010
    • Count in 2010 Number of occurrences: Estimate of the number of people with the surname in the United States according to the 2000 census.
    • % Change % Change between 2000 and 2010
    • Rank change Change in rank between 2000 and 2010


    Surnames by race:  Asian   |  Black   |  Hispanic   |  Native American   |  Two or More Races   |  White

    Surnames Alphabetical:  A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z

    Most Common Male Names:  1-300  |   301-600  |   601-900  |   901+  |   Alphabetical list

    Most Common Female Names:  1-1000 1001-2000  |   2001-3000  |   3001+  |   Alphabetical list

    Popular Baby Names in the U.S. (Historic)  Boys: 1-250  |  251-500  |  501-750  |  751-1000        Girls: 1-250  |  251-500  |  501-750  |  751-1000

    Ancestry in the United States:  Ancestry by city  |   Mexican  |   German  |   Irish  |   English  |   African American  |   More




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