Explore the Family Name Bolten

The meaning of Bolten

1. German: variant of Bolte. 2. German: habitational name from a short form of a compound placename such as Boltenhagen, of which there are six examples in Mecklenburg and Pomerania. 3. English (Kent and Suffolk): variant of Bolton. Some characteristic forenames: German Ernst, Hermann, Inge, Otto.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Bolten has seen a rise in its popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it ranked 38,992 in terms of commonality but climbed up to 32,268 by 2010, an increase of 17.24%. The count of individuals with this surname also increased significantly from 532 to 714 over this period, marking a 34.21% growth. Additionally, the proportion of people named Bolten per 100k also saw an increase of 20.0%, moving from 0.2 to 0.24.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#38,992	#32,268	17.24%
Count	532	714	34.21%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.24	20%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bolten

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Bolten, as per the Decennial U.S. Census data, remained predominantly White from 2000 to 2010, with a slight decrease from 85.90% to 85.57%. The percentage of Black individuals with this surname dropped significantly from 10.53% to 6.44%. Meanwhile, the representation of Hispanic ethnicity slightly decreased from 2.82% to 2.80%. Interestingly, no individuals with Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities bore this surname in both years. However, there was a new appearance of individuals identifying with two or more races bearing the surname Bolten in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	85.9%	85.57%	-0.38%
Black	10.53%	6.44%	-38.84%
Hispanic	2.82%	2.8%	-0.71%
Two or More Races	0%	2.66%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%