Explore the Family Name Pelto

The meaning of Pelto

Finnish: ornamental name from pelto ‘field’, adopted during the 20th century throughout southern and western parts of the country. In a few cases, however, it is a habitational name from farms so named, with reference to their location. Some characteristic forenames: Finnish Eino, Tyyne, Reino, Tauno, Veikko, Wilho.

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

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

The popularity of the surname "Pelto" has seen slight decreases as per the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, the Pelto name ranked 27,877 in popularity, but by 2010, it had dropped to 30,735, a decrease of approximately 10.25%. Additionally, the count of individuals with this surname decreased from 811 to 758 between 2000 and 2010, indicating a decline of roughly 6.54%. The proportion of people named Pelto per 100,000 also fell from 0.3 to 0.26 during this decade, marking a 13.33% drop.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#27,877	#30,735	-10.25%
Count	811	758	-6.54%
Proportion per 100k	0.3	0.26	-13.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pelto

With regards to ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data indicates that those bearing the Pelto surname are predominantly of White ethnicity. In 2000, this group constituted 97.16% of all Peltos, slightly declining to 96.83% in 2010. Over these ten years, there was no recorded Black or Asian/Pacific Islander populations within the Pelto surname. It's interesting to note a growth in Hispanic representation from 0.86% in 2000 to 1.58% in 2010, an increase of 83.72%. Likewise, the American Indian and Alaskan Native population emerged at 0.66% in 2010, while no such data existed for this group in 2000.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.16%	96.83%	-0.34%
Hispanic	0.86%	1.58%	83.72%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.66%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.62%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0.86%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%