Explore the Family Name Bertelsen

The meaning of Bertelsen

Norwegian, Danish, and North German: patronymic from the personal name Bertel, a pet form of Berthold. Compare Bartelson and Bertelson. Some characteristic forenames: Scandinavian Erik, Bertel, Iver, Niels, Nils, Sven, Viggo.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the Bertelsen surname saw a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the surname was ranked 18,953rd in the U.S., but by 2010 it had fallen to 20,065th, representing a change of -5.87%. However, the actual count of people with the Bertelsen name remained relatively stable, increasing slightly from 1,331 in 2000 to 1,332 in 2010. This resulted in a minor proportion change per 100k of -8.16%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#18,953	#20,065	-5.87%
Count	1,331	1,332	0.08%
Proportion per 100k	0.49	0.45	-8.16%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bertelsen

In terms of ethnic identity, the distribution of the Bertelsen surname showed some changes over the decade, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. The majority of individuals with this surname identified as White, although there was a slight decrease from 95.04% in 2000 to 92.79% in 2010. Meanwhile, the percentage identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander increased from 0.98% to 1.50%, and those identifying with two or more races rose from 1.95% to 2.33%. Notably, the percentage of Bertelsens identifying as Hispanic saw the greatest increase, more than doubling from 1.13% to 2.40%. There were no Bertelsens who identified as Black, American Indian, or Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.04%	92.79%	-2.37%
Hispanic	1.13%	2.4%	112.39%
Two or More Races	1.95%	2.33%	19.49%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.98%	1.5%	53.06%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%