Explore the Family Name Thorstensen

The meaning of Thorstensen

Norwegian and Danish: patronymic from the personal name Thorsten, a variant of Thorstein, Old Norse Thórsteinn, composed of the name of the god Thórr (see Thor) + steinn ‘stone, rock’, hence meaning ‘altar of Thor’ or perhaps ‘hammer of Thor’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Thorstensen saw a decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 78,549 in popularity but fell to 88,336 in 2010, a drop of approximately 12.46%. The total count of individuals with this surname also decreased from 226 in 2000 to 210 in 2010, indicating a decline of about 7.08%. The proportion of people named Thorstensen per 100,000 also declined by 12.5%, from 0.08 in 2000 to 0.07 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#78,549	#88,336	-12.46%
Count	226	210	-7.08%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.07	-12.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Thorstensen

Regarding ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the surname Thorstensen identified as white in both years, although there was a slight decrease from 95.58% in 2000 to 90.48% in 2010. There was a small increase in those identifying as Hispanic, rising from 2.65% in 2000 to 3.81% in 2010. Notably, there were no individuals with the surname Thorstensen who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or as having two or more races in 2000, but by 2010 these categories each made up 2.86% of the population with this surname. It should be noted that no Thorstensens identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.58%	90.48%	-5.34%
Hispanic	2.65%	3.81%	43.77%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	2.86%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	2.86%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%