Explore the Family Name Van Sant

The meaning of Van Sant

Flemish and Dutch: variant of Van Sandt or of Dutch Van Zandt. This form of the surname is not found in the Netherlands.

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

How common is the last name Van Sant in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Van Sant saw a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, it was ranked as the 12,197th most popular surname in the U.S., but by 2010 it had dropped to the 13,101st spot, a change of -7.41%. The actual count of people with this surname also saw a minor decline from 2,342 in 2000 to 2,340 in 2010. Consequently, the proportion of individuals with this surname per 100,000 residents fell by -9.2% over the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,197	#13,101	-7.41%
Count	2,342	2,340	-0.09%
Proportion per 100k	0.87	0.79	-9.2%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Van Sant

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data for the surname Van Sant indicates various shifts between 2000 and 2010. While the majority of individuals with this surname identified as White (92.35% in 2010), there was a slight decrease of -2.13% from the 94.36% reported in 2000. There were notable increases in the proportions identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander (from 0.85% to 1.24%), Hispanic (from 2.09% to 2.86%), and Black (from 0.64% to 1.03%). The most significant increase was seen among those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native, which grew from 0.34% in 2000 to 0.98% in 2010, a change of 188.24%. However, the percentage identifying as two or more races slightly decreased from 1.71% to 1.54% during this time period.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.36%	92.35%	-2.13%
Hispanic	2.09%	2.86%	36.84%
Two or More Races	1.71%	1.54%	-9.94%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.85%	1.24%	45.88%
Black	0.64%	1.03%	60.94%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.34%	0.98%	188.24%