Explore the Family Name Friese

The meaning of Friese

German, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish: variant of Fries. Some characteristic forenames: German Otto, Kurt, Ulrich, Egon, Gerhard, Guenther, Hans, Horst, Juergen, Rudi, Wolf.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Friese has seen a rise in popularity over the decade from 2000 to 2010. The rank of Friese improved from 14,158th place in 2000 to 12,597th in 2010, marking an 11.03% increase. Furthermore, the count of individuals bearing this surname surged by 26.19%, growing from 1,947 in 2000 to 2,457 in 2010. This growth led to an upturn in the proportion of Frieses per 100,000 people, which swelled by 15.28% during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#14,158	#12,597	11.03%
Count	1,947	2,457	26.19%
Proportion per 100k	0.72	0.83	15.28%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Friese

As for ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows diversity within the Friese surname holders. The data reveals that the majority are of White ethnicity (94.95% in 2010), although this figure decreased slightly by 0.98% from the 2000 census. The percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander saw a 35.29% rise, and those who identify with two or more races increased by 29.27%. The proportion of Hispanic surname holders also grew by 34.75%. However, the Black ethnicity category saw a decrease of 37.5%. Lastly, there was a significant growth in the number of American Indian and Alaskan Natives with the Friese surname, surging by 58.7% between 2000 and 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.89%	94.95%	-0.98%
Two or More Races	1.23%	1.59%	29.27%
Hispanic	1.18%	1.59%	34.75%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.46%	0.73%	58.7%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.51%	0.69%	35.29%
Black	0.72%	0.45%	-37.5%