Explore the Family Name Terpstra

The meaning of Terpstra

West Frisian and Dutch: topographic name, composed with the suffix -stra from Old Frisian sittera ‘inhabitant of’, denoting someone who lived on a terp, a prehistoric man-made mound built on lowlying land as a habitation site.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Terpstra has seen a slight decrease in popularity over the past decade, dropping from 12,299th in rank in 2000 to 12,370th in 2010. This represents a change of -0.58%. However, the overall count of individuals bearing this name increased by 8.41% during this same time period, moving from 2,319 in 2000 to 2,514 in 2010. The proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 also slightly declined from 0.86 to 0.85, indicating a -1.16% change.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,299	#12,370	-0.58%
Count	2,319	2,514	8.41%
Proportion per 100k	0.86	0.85	-1.16%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Terpstra

Examining the ethnic identity associated with the surname Terpstra, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the majority of individuals with this surname identified as White, although there was a slight decrease from 98.15% in 2000 to 97.14% in 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander saw an increase of 38.46%, albeit from a small base, rising from 0.52% to 0.72%. There was a significant increase in individuals reporting two or more races, which surged by 180% from 0.30% to 0.84%. The Hispanic representation also rose from 0.73% to 0.88%, marking a 20.55% change. No changes were noted for Black, American Indian, and Alaskan Native categories, with percentages remaining at zero in both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	98.15%	97.14%	-1.03%
Hispanic	0.73%	0.88%	20.55%
Two or More Races	0.3%	0.84%	180%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.52%	0.72%	38.46%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%