Explore the Family Name Rys

The meaning of Rys

1. Polish (Ryś), Czech, and Slovak: from Polish ryś, Czech and Slovak rys ‘lynx’, probably applied as a nickname for a nimble person. Compare Ris 6. 2. Dutch: variant, archaic (or Americanized) and Flemish, of Rijs, itself a variant of Ris 3. Some characteristic forenames: Polish Stanislaw, Janusz, Andrzej, Beata.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Rys has slightly decreased over the decade from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it ranked 25,076 in terms of popularity and dropped to a rank of 28,100 in 2010, reflecting a change of -12.06%. The count of people with the surname also decreased from 928 in 2000 to 852 in 2010, indicating an 8.19% drop. Furthermore, the proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 people fell by 14.71%, from 0.34 in 2000 to 0.29 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#25,076	#28,100	-12.06%
Count	928	852	-8.19%
Proportion per 100k	0.34	0.29	-14.71%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Rys

In terms of ethnicity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows some changes between 2000 and 2010. The majority of people with the surname Rys identified as White in both years, with a slight decrease of 0.45% over the decade. In 2000, no individuals with this surname were recorded as Asian/Pacific Islander, however, by 2010, this group constituted 0.59% of the Rys population. The percentage of people identifying as Hispanic increased by 24.50% during the same period. No individuals with this surname identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.15%	94.72%	-0.45%
Hispanic	3.02%	3.76%	24.5%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.59%	0%
Two or More Races	1.51%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%