Explore the Family Name Suomi

The meaning of Suomi

Finnish: ethnic name from Suomi ‘Finland’. At one time this term denoted only southwestern Finland, but nowadays it is the national name for the whole of Finland. As a surname it was mostly adopted during the name-changing campaigns to replace primarily Swedish surnames at the beginning of the 20th century, chiefly in southwestern Finland. Some characteristic forenames: Finnish Eino, Antti, Arvo, Martti, Niilo.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Suomi saw a slight dip in popularity ranking from 2000 to 2010, moving from rank 84,631 to 85,049, a minor decrease of 0.49%. However, the count of individuals with this surname increased by 6.8% during the same period, growing from 206 in 2000 to 220 in 2010. The proportion per 100,000 people dropped by 12.5%, indicating that while the number of people with the Suomi surname grew, it did not keep pace with the overall population growth.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#84,631	#85,049	-0.49%
Count	206	220	6.8%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.07	-12.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Suomi

In terms of ethnicity, most individuals bearing the surname Suomi identified as White according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. The percentage of individuals identifying as White increased slightly from 96.60% in 2000 to 97.27% in 2010. Notably, the proportion of individuals identifying as Hispanic dropped dramatically to zero in 2010, from 2.43% in 2000. The categories for Asian/Pacific Islander, two or more races, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native either remained at zero or were suppressed due to privacy concerns.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.6%	97.27%	0.69%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	2.43%	0%	-100%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%