Explore the Family Name Niss

The meaning of Niss

1. German and Danish: assimilated form of Nils, a shortening of Nikolaus (see Nicholas). 2. Jewish (from Ukraine and Poland): artificial name from Yiddish dialect nis ‘nut’ (cognate with German Nüss; see 1 above). Some characteristic forenames: Jewish Batya.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Niss has seen a decline in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Niss was ranked as the 68,973rd most popular surname, but by 2010 it had dropped to the 78,821st spot, marking a decrease of 14.28%. The number of individuals with this surname also decreased over this period, with a count of 266 in 2000 dropping to 242 in 2010, representing a reduction of 9.02%. Accordingly, the proportion of people named Niss per 100,000 individuals also went down by 20%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#68,973	#78,821	-14.28%
Count	266	242	-9.02%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.08	-20%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Niss

Looking at the ethnic identity associated with the Niss surname, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data, there are no recorded instances of the surname among Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native groups, or those identifying with two or more races for both 2000 and 2010. However, the vast majority of individuals with this surname identify as White, with an increase from 94.74% in 2000 to 95.45% in 2010. The percentage of individuals named Niss who identify as Hispanic saw a significant decrease, moving from 3.38% in 2000 to just 2.07% in 2010, marking a 38.76% drop.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.74%	95.45%	0.75%
Hispanic	3.38%	2.07%	-38.76%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%