Explore the Family Name Claassen

The meaning of Claassen

Dutch, North German, and Danish: patronymic from the personal name Claas, a shortened form of Niklaas, Nikolaus (see Nicholas). Some characteristic forenames: German Hans, Claus, Erna, Frieda, Klaus, Otto, Ulrich.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Claassen showed a slight increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 19,470th and by 2010, it had moved up to the 19,275th position, marking a 1% change. The count of individuals with this last name also increased by 9.5% during this period, from 1,284 to 1,406 people. Meanwhile, its proportion per 100,000 people remained stable at 0.48.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#19,470	#19,275	1%
Count	1,284	1,406	9.5%
Proportion per 100k	0.48	0.48	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Claassen

When it comes to ethnic identity, the Claassen surname showed some changes from 2000 to 2010, as per the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2010, nearly 95% of individuals with the Claassen surname identified as White, a decrease of 2.31% from 2000. The percentage identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander increased slightly from 0.78% to 0.85%. The most significant change was observed in the Hispanic category, which saw an increase from 0.78% in 2000 to 1.78% in 2010. The data also showed new representation from individuals identifying with two or more races in 2010, which was not present in 2000. Conversely, the American Indian and Alaskan Native category decreased from 0.78% to zero, while the Black category remained unchanged at zero for both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.2%	94.95%	-2.31%
Two or More Races	0%	1.78%	0%
Hispanic	0.78%	1.78%	128.21%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.78%	0.85%	8.97%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.78%	0%	0%