Explore the Family Name Pothen

The meaning of Pothen

1. North German: variant of Poth. 2. Indian (Kerala): from the personal name Pothen, derived from Greek Philippos (see Philip), found among Christians in southern India. It is formed with the Tamil-Malayalam third-person masculine singular suffix -n. — Note: Since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames, this name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.

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

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

The Pothen surname has seen an increase in popularity based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, the surname was ranked 72,237 in popularity, but moved up to 66,754 by 2010, marking a 7.59% change. The count of individuals with the Pothen surname also increased from 251 in 2000 to 296 in 2010, which is a 17.93% growth. The proportion per 100,000 people also increased slightly from 0.09 to 0.1 during this decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#72,237	#66,754	7.59%
Count	251	296	17.93%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.1	11.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pothen

Regarding its ethnic identity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that there has been an increase in the number of people with the Pothen surname identifying as Asian or Pacific Islander, rising from 43.82% in 2000 to 52.36% in 2010, a 19.49% change. During the same period, those identifying as White decreased from 52.59% to 43.24%, a decline of 17.78%. A small percentage identified as Hispanic in both years, while the category of two or more races appeared in 2010 with a 1.69% representation. No individuals with the Pothen surname identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	43.82%	52.36%	19.49%
White	52.59%	43.24%	-17.78%
Hispanic	1.99%	2.03%	2.01%
Two or More Races	0%	1.69%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%