Explore the Family Name Snellen

The meaning of Snellen

1. Dutch: patronymic from Snel (see Snell). 2. English: variant of Snelling.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Snellen has seen a substantial increase between 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname moved from 57,090 to 52,482, showing a positive change of 8.07 percent. Additionally, the count for this surname also rose by 18.26 percent, from 334 to 395 in the span of a decade. The proportion per 100,000 people slightly increased as well, from 0.12 to 0.13, marking an 8.33 percent change.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#57,090	#52,482	8.07%
Count	334	395	18.26%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.13	8.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Snellen

The ethnicity breakdown for the surname Snellen, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, reveals that most individuals identifying with this name are of White ethnic identity. However, there were some shifts over the decade. In 2000, 93.41 percent identified as White, which decreased slightly to 91.65 percent in 2010. Those identifying as Hispanic saw a significant increase, from 1.50 percent in 2000 to 3.04 percent in 2010. The percentage of those with two or more races also increased slightly from 2.99 percent to 3.04 percent during these years. Meanwhile, the representation of Black and Asian/Pacific Islander ethnic identities was lower and remained constant for Asian/Pacific Islander while it decreased by 15.56 percent for those identifying as Black. There were no individuals who identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.41%	91.65%	-1.88%
Two or More Races	2.99%	3.04%	1.67%
Hispanic	1.5%	3.04%	102.67%
Black	1.8%	1.52%	-15.56%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%