Explore the Family Name Koivisto

The meaning of Koivisto

Finnish: habitational name from farms so named, from koivu ‘birch tree’ + the locative or collective suffix -sto, thus referring to ‘birch wood or forest’. Established as a surname since the 19th century in western, central, and southern Finland and also adopted in the early 20th century as an ornamental name, mainly to replace Swedish surnames. Some characteristic forenames: Finnish Eino, Olli, Toivo, Jorma.

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

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

The Koivisto surname saw a small shift in its popularity from the year 2000 to 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In the year 2000, the surname was ranked 42,437, but by 2010 it had slipped to rank 43,584, marking a decrease of 2.7%. Despite this dip in ranking, the actual count of people with the Koivisto surname increased slightly from 481 in 2000 to 495 in 2010, a growth of approximately 2.91%. However, the proportion of individuals with this surname per 100,000 people decreased by 5.56%.

20002010Change
Rank#42,437#43,584-2.7%
Count4814952.91%
Proportion per 100k0.180.17-5.56%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Koivisto

Evaluating the ethnic identity associated with the Koivisto surname based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, we can see a consistent and predominant association with individuals identifying as White. In both 2000 and 2010, around 95% of the individuals with the Koivisto surname identified as White. There was an insignificant decrease in this percentage from 95.63% in 2000 to 95.56% in 2010. While there was a notable drop of 11.79% in those identifying as Hispanic over this decade, the overall numbers remained quite low. Interestingly, by 2010, some individuals with the surname Koivisto began to identify with two or more races.

20002010Change
White95.63%95.56%-0.07%
Hispanic2.29%2.02%-11.79%
Two or More Races0%1.62%0%
Asian/Pacific Islander0%0%0%
Black0%0%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native1.46%0%0%