Explore the Family Name Bies

The meaning of Bies

1. Dutch and North German: from bies ‘rush’, either a topographic name for someone who lived where rushes grew, or metonymic occupational name for a weaver of rush matting. 2. Polish: unflattering nickname from bies ‘devil’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Bies saw a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the surname ranked 24,701 in popularity, but by 2010, it had fallen slightly to 25,332, a decrease of 2.55% in rank. However, the actual count of individuals with the surname increased slightly from 947 in 2000 to 977 in 2010, a growth of 3.17%. The proportion of people with the Bies surname per 100,000 population also fell by 5.71%, from 0.35 in 2000 to 0.33 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#24,701	#25,332	-2.55%
Count	947	977	3.17%
Proportion per 100k	0.35	0.33	-5.71%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bies

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the surname Bies identify as White, with a steady percentage of around 95% in both 2000 and 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic recorded a significant increase, growing by 45.28% from 1.06% in 2000 to 1.54% in 2010. Meanwhile, the proportion identifying as Black decreased slightly, from 1.69% to 1.54%. Notably, the 2010 census reported some Bies as American Indian and Alaskan Native, a category that was not represented in the 2000 data. No representation for Asian/Pacific Islander or individuals identifying as two or more races was reported in the 2010 data.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.25%	95.09%	-0.17%
Hispanic	1.06%	1.54%	45.28%
Black	1.69%	1.54%	-8.88%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.82%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	1.16%	0%	0%