Explore the Family Name Sytsma

The meaning of Sytsma

West Frisian: patronymic, formed with the suffix -ma ‘(one of the) men of’, from the personal name Sytze, a pet form of Sigitet, composed of the ancient Germanic elements sig ‘victory’ and tait ‘happy’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Sytsma has seen a slight increase in the United States between 2000 and 2010. In terms of rank, it climbed from 24,406 to 23,750, indicating a 2.69% change. The count of people bearing the surname also experienced a growth of about 10.82%, increasing from 961 to 1,065 individuals over this ten-year period. However, the proportion per 100,000 population remained steady at 0.36.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#24,406	#23,750	2.69%
Count	961	1,065	10.82%
Proportion per 100k	0.36	0.36	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sytsma

Turning to the ethnic identity associated with the Sytsma surname, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals some shifts between 2000 and 2010. The largest group identifying as White decreased slightly by 1.02%, but still makes up the majority at 95.68%. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander increased by 39.36%, though they comprise only a small fraction of individuals with the Sytsma surname at 1.31%. Notably, there was a significant proportional increase (134.62%) among those identifying as Hispanic, although this group still only represents 1.22% of the total. Meanwhile, the percentage of individuals identifying as two or more races decreased by 22.6%. There were no reported individuals with Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.67%	95.68%	-1.02%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.94%	1.31%	39.36%
Hispanic	0.52%	1.22%	134.62%
Two or More Races	1.46%	1.13%	-22.6%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%