Explore the Family Name Saarinen

The meaning of Saarinen

Finnish: ornamental name from saari ‘island’ (compare Saari) + the surname suffix -nen, widely adopted in the late 19th century in southwestern, southern, and central Finland, primarily by Finns without surnames (compare Virtanen). Some characteristic forenames: Finnish Waino, Alpo, Antti, Eero, Eija, Hannu, Jorma, Keijo, Pekka, Risto, Seppo, Timo. Scandinavian Erik, Olle, Sven.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Saarinen experienced a slight decline in rank from 65,668 in 2000 to 65,964 in 2010, marking a decrease of 0.45%. Despite this drop in ranking, the actual count of individuals with this surname increased by 6.38% during the same period, rising from 282 in 2000 to 300 in 2010. The proportion of people with the Saarinen surname per 100k remained consistent at 0.1 for both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#65,668	#65,964	-0.45%
Count	282	300	6.38%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.1	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Saarinen

Regarding the ethnic identity associated with the surname Saarinen, data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that it is overwhelmingly identified as White, with a representation of 98.58% in 2000 and 97.67% in 2010. This represents a marginal decrease of 0.92% over the decade. Other ethnic identities such as Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native were either not represented or their data was suppressed for privacy reasons. There was also no recorded change in the number of individuals identifying as belonging to two or more races.

	2000	2010	Change
White	98.58%	97.67%	-0.92%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%