Explore the Family Name Kivisto

The meaning of Kivisto

Finnish (Kivistö): habitational name from farms so named, from kivi ‘stone, rock’ (compare Kivi), with the addition of the locative or collective suffix -stö, referring to ‘rock land, outcrop’. Established as a hereditary surname in western and southern Finland since the 19th century. Adopted also in the name-changing campaigns of the early 20th century, especially in place of Swedish surnames containing the word sten ‘stone’ (compare Kivela). Some characteristic forenames: Finnish Eino, Jorma, Juhani, Markku, Paavo, Reino, Sirpa, Toivo.

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

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

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Kivisto ranked 62,396th in popularity in 2000 and dropped slightly to the 62,903rd spot in 2010, indicating a decrease of 0.81 percent. Despite this decrease in rank, the count of individuals with the Kivisto surname increased by 6 percent from 300 in 2000 to 318 in 2010. The proportion per 100,000 people remained consistent at 0.11 from 2000 to 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#62,396	#62,903	-0.81%
Count	300	318	6%
Proportion per 100k	0.11	0.11	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Kivisto

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the majority of individuals with the Kivisto surname identify as White, with percentages increasing slightly from 97.00 percent in 2000 to 97.80 percent in 2010. There were no Kivisto individuals who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native during these years. Similarly, there was no change in the number of individuals identifying as being from two or more races.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97%	97.8%	0.82%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%