Explore the Family Name Preuss

The meaning of Preuss

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Prussia (German Preussen), a former state of northern Germany, so called from the ethnic name of a Baltic people (see Prus) displaced by the Germans during the 13th century, or an ethnic name for a member of this people. Some characteristic forenames: German Kurt, Hans, Eckhard, Erwin, Gerda, Horst, Gunter, Ilse, Klaus, Lothar, Monika, Rainer.

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

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

The surname Preuss showed a slight decrease in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010, falling from rank 12,197 to 12,454 according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. However, the count of individuals with this surname increased by 6.4%, from 2,342 in 2000 to 2,492 in 2010. Despite this increase, the proportion per 100k people dropped by 3.45%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,197	#12,454	-2.11%
Count	2,342	2,492	6.4%
Proportion per 100k	0.87	0.84	-3.45%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Preuss

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the majority of people with the Preuss surname identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, although this percentage decreased slightly from 95.99% to 94.78%. The percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Two or more races, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaskan Native all saw increases, with the highest percentage increase observed among those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native (from 0.30% to 0.44%). The Black ethnic identity saw a decline from 0.38% in 2000 to 0.24% in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.99%	94.78%	-1.26%
Hispanic	1.49%	2.17%	45.64%
Two or More Races	1.15%	1.61%	40%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.68%	0.76%	11.76%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.3%	0.44%	46.67%
Black	0.38%	0.24%	-36.84%