Explore the Family Name Hamstra

The meaning of Hamstra

West Frisian and Dutch: topographic name for someone who lived on a flood plain or land in a river bend, from Dutch ham ‘land in a river bend, flood plain’ + the suffix -stra from Old Frisian sittera ‘inhabitant of’.

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

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

The surname Hamstra, as per data from the Decennial U.S. Census, had a popularity rank of 29,964 in 2000, which slightly increased to 29,918 in 2010. This marginal shift indicates a slight rise in the use of this surname over the decade. The count of people with this last name also increased from 739 in 2000 to 785 in 2010, marking a 6.22% growth. However, the proportion per 100,000 people remained static at 0.27, showing that despite the increase in numbers, the overall prevalence of the surname Hamstra in relation to the total population remained unchanged.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#29,964	#29,918	0.15%
Count	739	785	6.22%
Proportion per 100k	0.27	0.27	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Hamstra

In terms of ethnic identity, the Hamstra surname primarily identifies with the White ethnicity, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, 95.81% of the Hamstras were White, decreasing slightly to 93.76% in 2010. There was a small percentage (1.35% in 2000 and 2.17% in 2010) of Hamstras who identified as Hispanic. Over the same period, the representation of Hamstras among American Indians and Alaskan Natives decreased by 12.17%. Meanwhile, there were no individuals with this surname identifying themselves as Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, or belonging to two or more races in 2000. However, by 2010, a small percentage (1.27%) began identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.81%	93.76%	-2.14%
Hispanic	1.35%	2.17%	60.74%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	1.89%	1.66%	-12.17%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.27%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%