Explore the Family Name Beese

The meaning of Beese

1. English (Gloucestershire): variant of Bees. 2. North German: from Middle Low German bēse ‘reed, bulrush’, hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who used reeds in his work, for example a brush maker. 3. Possibly also an Americanized form of North German Biese, a variant of 2 above.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Beese saw a decline between 2000 and 2010. It was ranked 31,884 in 2000 and slid down to 39,052 in 2010, marking a decrease of about 22.48%. The number of individuals with this surname also dropped from 684 in 2000 to 564 in 2010, indicating a reduction of 17.54%. Accordingly, the proportion per 100k population also decreased by 24%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#31,884	#39,052	-22.48%
Count	684	564	-17.54%
Proportion per 100k	0.25	0.19	-24%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Beese

In terms of ethnicity based on the Decennial U.S. Census, people with the surname Beese primarily identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, although there was a slight decrease in this group from 95.18% to 93.44% over this period. The percentage of Hispanic individuals with this surname significantly increased from 1.02% to 3.19%, a jump of 212.75%. Conversely, the percentage of Black individuals saw a decrease from 2.34% to 1.95%. Those who identified with two or more races were present in 2000 (at 0.88%) but were not recorded in 2010. No individuals with the surname Beese identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.18%	93.44%	-1.83%
Hispanic	1.02%	3.19%	212.75%
Black	2.34%	1.95%	-16.67%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0.88%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%