Explore the Family Name Ehlen

The meaning of Ehlen

German: 1. habitational name from any of various places so named. 2. patronymic from Ehl and Ehle. Some characteristic forenames: German Ernst, Wilhelm.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Ehlen shifted somewhat between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the name ranked 27,361st in popularity, but by 2010, it had slid to 27,707th, a slight decrease of 1.26%. However, despite the drop in rank, the overall count of individuals with the Ehlen surname actually increased by 4.58% from 830 in 2000 to 868 in 2010. Consequently, the proportion of individuals with this surname per 100,000 people decreased slightly by 6.45%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#27,361	#27,707	-1.26%
Count	830	868	4.58%
Proportion per 100k	0.31	0.29	-6.45%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Ehlen

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals a few changes over the same decade. The percentage of individuals with the surname Ehlen who identify as Asian/Pacific Islander more than doubled from 0.72% to 1.73%, while those identifying with two or more races also saw an increase from 1.45% to 2.30%. The majority of individuals with this surname are White, although their representation in the population decreased marginally from 96.51% to 93.78%. Meanwhile, there was no recorded change for Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native identities. Interestingly, a new ethnic identity emerged within the Ehlen population - Hispanic, accounting for 1.73% in 2010, which was not represented at all in the 2000 Census data.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.51%	93.78%	-2.83%
Two or More Races	1.45%	2.3%	58.62%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.72%	1.73%	140.28%
Hispanic	0%	1.73%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%