Explore the Family Name Porten

The meaning of Porten

1. English: possibly a variant of Porton, a habitational name from Porton in Wiltshire or Poorton in Dorset; both placenames are formed with an obscure first element, perhaps the name of a river, + Old English tūn ‘settlement’. 2. North German: variant of Port (inflected form after an original preposition).

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Porten has seen a decline in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 55,971st, but by 2010 it had dropped to 71,478th place, marking a decrease of 27.71%. The count of individuals with this surname also fell during this period, from 342 in 2000 to 273 in 2010, a reduction of 20.18%. Accordingly, the proportion of people named Porten per 100,000 decreased by 30.77%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#55,971	#71,478	-27.71%
Count	342	273	-20.18%
Proportion per 100k	0.13	0.09	-30.77%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Porten

Regarding the ethnic identity associated with the surname Porten, data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that the majority of people with this surname identified as White in both 2000 (92.69%) and 2010 (92.31%), showing a slight decrease of 0.41% over the decade. Those identifying as two or more races represented 2.63% in 2000, falling slightly to 2.56% in 2010. Data for Black ethnicity showed a decrease from 2.63% in 2000 to none in 2010. Interestingly, the Hispanic representation went from non-existent in 2000 to 2.20% in 2010. The Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaskan Native categories reported no data for both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92.69%	92.31%	-0.41%
Two or More Races	2.63%	2.56%	-2.66%
Hispanic	0%	2.2%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	2.63%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%