Explore the Family Name Thornes

The meaning of Thornes

1. Norwegian: habitational name from any of the five farmsteads named Tornes, probably from Old Norse Thórr (name of the Scandinavian thunder god) + nes ‘headland, promontory’. 2. English (Yorkshire): variant of Thorns.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Thornes has seen slight changes in its popularity over a decade. In 2000, Thornes ranked 54,269 in the United States and rose to 55,386 by 2010, marking a slight decrease in popularity of about 2.06%. Despite this, the actual number of people carrying the Thornes name increased from 356 in 2000 to 371 in 2010, indicating a growth rate of 4.21%. However, when examined as a proportion per 100,000 people, the presence of the Thornes surname remained constant at 0.13.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#54,269	#55,386	-2.06%
Count	356	371	4.21%
Proportion per 100k	0.13	0.13	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Thornes

Regarding the ethnic identity connected to the Thornes surname, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census reflects several shifts between 2000 and 2010. The largest portion of individuals with this surname identified as White, growing from 65.45% in 2000 to 67.65% in 2010. Those identifying as Black also saw a slight increase from 28.65% to 29.65%. However, the percentage of Thornes identifying with two or more races significantly decreased from 3.37% to 1.35%. There were no individuals that identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native for either year, and the percentage of those identifying as Hispanic dropped to zero in 2010 after being 2.25% in 2000.

	2000	2010	Change
White	65.45%	67.65%	3.36%
Black	28.65%	29.65%	3.49%
Two or More Races	3.37%	1.35%	-59.94%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	2.25%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%