Explore the Family Name Athens

The meaning of Athens

1. Americanized form of Greek patronymics derived from the personal name Athanasios, meaning ‘immortal’ (see Athanas). Compare Athans. 2. Americanized form of Greek Atheneos ‘Athenian’ or Athenakis, a habitational name for someone from the city of Athens. These were also used as nicknames for people who had spent time in Athens and liked to show off their worldliness.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Athens in the United States?

Based on the decennial U.S. Census, the surname Athens saw a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. The ranking of the surname dropped from 37,429 in 2000 to 39,717 in 2010, indicating a 6.11% decline. The count of individuals with the Athens surname also experienced a minor reduction of 1.25%, going from 560 in 2000 to 553 in 2010. This brought down its proportion per 100k from 0.21 to 0.19, marking a 9.52% dip.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#37,429	#39,717	-6.11%
Count	560	553	-1.25%
Proportion per 100k	0.21	0.19	-9.52%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Athens

In terms of ethnicity, the Athens surname was predominantly found within the White community, as suggested by data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, 94.46% of individuals with this surname identified as White, slightly dropping to 93.85% in 2010. The Hispanic community saw an increase in the occurrence of this surname rising from 3.04% in 2000 to 4.16% in 2010, which is a significant change of 36.84%. The percentage of Black individuals with the Athens surname decreased by 13.60% over the same period. As for Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native communities, there was no recorded change during these years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.46%	93.85%	-0.65%
Hispanic	3.04%	4.16%	36.84%
Black	1.25%	1.08%	-13.6%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0.89%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%