NameCensus.

UK surname

Hansen

A patronymic surname of Scandinavian origin meaning "son of Hans," derived from the personal name Hans or Johannes.

In the 1881 census there were 551 people recorded with the Hansen surname, ranking it #6,263 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 2,728, ranked #2,461, up from #6,263 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to London parishes, Gateshead and Tynemouth (Chirton, Preston, Murton, Whitley, Monkseaton), Earsdon (Earsdon). In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Allerdale, Oxford and South Tyneside.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Hansen is 2,728 in 2016. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 395.1%.

1881 census count

551

Ranked #6,263

Modern count

2,728

2016, ranked #2,461

Peak year

2016

2,728 bearers

Map years

8

1861 to 2016

Key insights

  • Hansen had 551 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #6,263 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 2,728 in 2016, ranked #2,461.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 1,118 in 1911.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Diverse Educated Urban Singles.

Hansen surname distribution map

The map shows where the Hansen surname is concentrated in each census or modern distribution year. Darker areas mean a stronger local concentration.

Distribution map

Hansen surname density by area, 1881 census.

Loading map
Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

Back to top

Hansen over time

The table below tracks recorded surname counts and rank from the 19th-century census years through the modern adult-register period.

Year Period Count Rank
1851 historical 62 #22,232
1861 historical 146 #15,628
1881 historical 551 #6,263
1891 historical 695 #5,640
1901 historical 1,072 #4,505
1911 historical 1,118 #4,155
1997 modern 2,227 #2,784
1998 modern 2,379 #2,727
1999 modern 2,429 #2,698
2000 modern 2,454 #2,661
2001 modern 2,414 #2,645
2002 modern 2,486 #2,631
2003 modern 2,429 #2,628
2004 modern 2,408 #2,648
2005 modern 2,333 #2,694
2006 modern 2,355 #2,674
2007 modern 2,414 #2,647
2008 modern 2,473 #2,616
2009 modern 2,529 #2,616
2010 modern 2,625 #2,590
2011 modern 2,613 #2,569
2012 modern 2,655 #2,488
2013 modern 2,666 #2,521
2014 modern 2,716 #2,496
2015 modern 2,701 #2,490
2016 modern 2,728 #2,461

Geography

Back to top

Where Hansens are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around London parishes, Gateshead, Tynemouth (Chirton, Preston, Murton, Whitley, Monkseaton), Earsdon (Earsdon) and Edinburgh. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Allerdale, Oxford, South Tyneside and Knowsley. Treat these as concentration signals, not proof that every family line began there.

Some modern areas include a three-digit suffix, such as Leeds 110. The suffix is a small-area code, so it stays in the table while the prose uses the plain place name.

Top historical parishes

Rank Parish Area
1 London parishes London 1
2 London parishes London 3
3 Gateshead Durham
4 Tynemouth (Chirton, Preston, Murton, Whitley, Monkseaton), Earsdon (Earsdon) Northumberland
5 Edinburgh Edinburgh

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Allerdale 005 Allerdale
2 Oxford 008 Oxford
3 South Tyneside 001 South Tyneside
4 Knowsley 006 Knowsley
5 Allerdale 004 Allerdale

Forenames

Back to top

First names often paired with Hansen

These lists show first names that appear often with the Hansen surname in historical and recent records.

Modern profile

Back to top

Neighbourhood profile for Hansen

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Hansen, this points to the kinds of places where the surname is most concentrated today.

These neighbourhood labels describe areas, not individual people. They are useful because surnames often cluster through family history, migration, housing patterns and local work. A surname can be strongest in one type of neighbourhood even when people with that name live across the country.

The UK classification gives the national picture. The London classification is more specific to the capital, where housing, age profile, tenure and population mix can look quite different from the rest of the UK.

UK neighbourhood type

UK Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Multicultural and Educated Urbanites

Group

Diverse Educated Urban Singles

Nationally, the Hansen surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Diverse Educated Urban Singles, within Multicultural and Educated Urbanites. This does not mean every Hansen household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

This Group includes many never-married individuals not living with dependent children. Many were born in EU countries and are now aged between 25-44. This Group is characterised by its ethnic group diversity, although those identifying as Asian are not well represented. Affiliation with the Christian religion amongst residents is low. Reported disability rates are low. Neighbourhoods include some central locations in London and other major cities. Private renting is the norm, and there is some overcrowding. Many individuals are educated to degree level, and full-time employment is common, particularly in managerial and professional occupations.

Wider pattern

Established populations comprising ethnic minorities together with persons born outside the UK predominate in this Supergroup. Residents present diverse personal characteristics and circumstances: while generally well-educated and practising skilled occupations, some residents live in overcrowded rental sector housing. English may not be the main language used by people in this Group. Although the typical adult resident is middle aged, single person households are common and marriage rates are low by national standards. This Supergroup predominates in Inner London, with smaller enclaves in many other densely populated metropolitan areas.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

The Greater London Mix

Group

Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers

Within London, Hansen is most associated with areas classed as Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers, part of The Greater London Mix. This gives the surname a London-specific profile rather than forcing the capital into the same pattern as the rest of the country.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Mainly located in Inner London, these neighbourhoods retain a diverse employment structure, with some concentration in associated professional and technical occupations rather than skilled trades or construction. Social renting is more common and levels of homeownership are low. Many residents identify as Black. There is a lower than average rate of marriage or civil partnership, few that are very old (85 or over) and higher than average incidence of disability.

Wider London pattern

A Supergroup embodying London's diversity in many respects, apart from low numbers of residents identifying as of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani or Other (non-Chinese) Asian ethnicity. There is lower than average prevalence of families with dependent children, while there are above average occurrences of never-married individuals and single-person households. The age distribution is skewed towards younger, single residents and couples without children, with many individuals identifying as of mixed or multiple ethnicity. Social rented or private rented housing is slightly more prevalent than average, and many residents live in flats. Individuals typically work in professional and associated roles in public administration, education or health rather than in elementary occupations in agriculture, energy, water, construction or manufacturing. Incidence of students is slightly below average. Individuals declaring no religion are more prevalent than average and non-use of English at home is below average.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Hansen is most concentrated in decile 10 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname towards the healthier end of the index.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

10
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Hansen falls in decile 7 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname near the middle of the scale.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

7
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Hansen is most associated with a typical fixed broadband download band of 30-40 mbit/s.

The scale below places that band in context, from slower local download bands through to faster ones.

6
Slower band Faster band

Area snapshot

Ethnic group estimate

Most common ethnic group estimate
White - Other

This describes the area pattern most associated with Hansen, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Hansen

The surname Hansen is of Scandinavian origin, specifically from Denmark and Norway. It is a patronymic surname, meaning it originated from the name of the father or an ancestor. The name is derived from the old Norse personal name Hans, a shortened form of Johannes, which was the Scandinavian version of the name John.

In the Middle Ages, the use of surnames was not widespread, and people were often identified by their given name followed by their father's name with the suffix "-son" added. Hansen, meaning "son of Hans," was one such surname that emerged during this time.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Hansen can be traced back to the 13th and 14th centuries in Danish and Norwegian records. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Niels Hansen, a Danish nobleman who lived in the late 13th century.

As the use of surnames became more common, the name Hansen spread across Scandinavia and eventually to other parts of Europe and the Americas as people migrated. In some cases, the spelling of the name may have been modified slightly, such as Hanson or Hannsen, but the root remained the same.

Notable individuals with the surname Hansen throughout history include:

1. Peter Andreas Hansen (1795-1874), a Danish astronomer and mathematician known for his work on the orbit of the Moon and the theory of comets.

2. Gerhard Armauer Hansen (1841-1912), a Norwegian physician who discovered the bacterium responsible for leprosy, now known as Mycobacterium leprae.

3. Alvin Hansen (1887-1975), an American economist and professor at Harvard University, known for his contributions to the theory of the business cycle and Keynesian economics.

4. Lars Hansen (born 1952), an American economist and a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2013 for his work on asset pricing and time series analysis.

5. Edvard Hansen (1888-1957), a Norwegian painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and depictions of rural life in Norway.

The surname Hansen has a rich history and has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including scientists, artists, and scholars, throughout the centuries.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

Back to top

Hansen families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Hansen surname. Use the location tables for concentration, then the name and occupation tables for the people behind the surname.

Top counties

Total is the county count. Frequency and index adjust for local population size, so they are better concentration signals. Middlesex leads with 84 Hansens recorded in 1881 and an index of 1.57x.

County Total Index
Middlesex 84 1.57x
Lancashire 72 1.13x
Yorkshire 53 1.00x
Northumberland 41 5.14x
Durham 40 2.51x
Midlothian 31 4.31x
Hampshire 30 2.73x
Surrey 27 1.03x
Glamorgan 18 1.93x
Renfrewshire 16 3.85x
Kent 13 0.71x
Lanarkshire 13 0.75x
Lincolnshire 11 1.28x
Monmouthshire 11 2.84x
Cheshire 10 0.84x
Dumfriesshire 10 8.44x
Devon 9 0.81x
Cornwall 8 1.32x
Fife 8 2.52x
Essex 6 0.57x
Gloucestershire 6 0.57x
Somerset 4 0.46x
Sussex 4 0.44x
Caernarfonshire 3 1.38x
Inverness-shire 3 1.87x
Norfolk 3 0.36x
Staffordshire 3 0.17x
Anglesey 2 2.10x
Dorset 2 0.57x
Orkney 2 3.39x
West Lothian 2 2.48x
Angus 1 0.20x
East Lothian 1 1.41x
Royal Navy 1 1.56x
Shropshire 1 0.22x
Warwickshire 1 0.07x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Liverpool in Lancashire leads with 20 Hansens recorded in 1881 and an index of 5.17x.

Place Total Index
Liverpool 20 5.17x
Northwood 16 102.17x
St Pancras London 16 3.71x
Leith North 15 1086.96x
Westoe 15 16.58x
Great Grimsby 11 20.20x
Rotherhithe 11 16.59x
St Woollos 11 25.42x
Elswick 10 15.70x
Moffat 10 184.84x
North Shields 10 62.77x
Wavertree 10 49.07x
Kensington London 9 3.02x
Lambeth 9 1.92x
Roath 9 21.21x
St George In East London 9 17.84x
Chirton 8 44.27x
Kirkdale 8 7.47x
South Shields 8 56.26x
Barony 7 1.59x
East Greenock 7 17.83x
Ecclesall Bierlow 7 6.47x
Kingstonupon Hull 7 164.32x
North Leith 7 21.05x
Poplar London 7 6.91x
Toxteth Park 7 3.25x
Brightside Bierlow 6 5.75x
Bromley London 6 5.08x
Clerkenwell London 6 4.74x
Gomersal 6 24.18x
Goole 6 67.34x
Whitworth 6 51.33x
Dover St James 5 62.34x
Falmouth 5 23.26x
Farnborough 5 43.29x
Glasgow 5 1.62x
Hartlepool 5 22.05x
Middle Greenock 5 44.05x
Paddington London 5 2.53x
Rishton 5 66.93x
St Katherine Creechurch 5 543.48x
Stranton 5 9.31x
Tynemouth 5 11.70x
Barrow In Furness 4 4.62x
Berkeley 4 68.38x
Everton 4 1.97x
Hackney London 4 1.33x
Shadwell London 4 26.65x
Shelf 4 78.74x
Templenewsam 4 103.90x
Wallasey 4 99.26x
West Ham 4 1.71x
Bedminster 3 3.70x
Brighton 3 1.64x
Cardiff St Mary 3 5.83x
Coxlodge 3 49.42x
Dartmouth Townstall 3 65.93x
Easington In Clitheroe 3 545.45x
Eston 3 25.91x
Holy Trinity 3 2.35x
Limehouse London 3 5.09x
Newton 3 6.11x
South Leith 3 3.71x
Tranmere 3 6.89x
Ynyscynhaiarn 3 29.70x
Dunfermline 2 4.10x
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 2 0.69x
Islington London 2 0.38x
Kirkwall St Ola 2 22.62x
Leith South 2 204.08x
Llandaff 2 6.44x
Lydd 2 51.02x
Middlesbrough 2 2.89x
Millbrook 2 7.22x
Milton In Gravesend 2 7.29x
Plymouth St Andrew 2 2.32x
Sidmouth 2 31.30x
Swansea 2 190.48x
Swansea Town 2 2.61x
Whitechapel London 2 3.78x

Top female names

These are the female first names most often recorded with the Hansen surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
Mary 25
Elizabeth 8
Jane 7
Sarah 7
Annie 5
Edith 5
Ellen 5
Emma 5
Kate 5
Margaret 5
Anne 4
Caroline 4
Catherine 4
Eliza 4
Harriet 4
Julia 4
Maria 4
Ann 3
Emily 3
Hilda 3
Isabella 3
Martha 3
Agnes 2
Alice 2
Anna 2
Dora 2
Fanny 2
Gertrude 2
Helene 2
Johanna 2
Laura 2
Selena 2
Susan 2
Agnete 1
Alvine 1
Amelia 1
Auguste 1
Barbery 1
Barta 1
Christine 1
Clara 1
Cristine 1
Dagmar 1
Doris 1
Eleanor 1
Eline 1
Harriette 1
Harritt 1
Helina 1
Thora 1

Top male names

These are the male first names most often recorded with the Hansen surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
Hans 19
John 16
Peter 14
Christian 11
Carl 8
William 8
Charles 7
Frederick 7
Henry 7
James 7
Thomas 7
Harry 5
George 4
J. 4
Martin 4
Niels 4
Arthur 3
Edward 3
Jacob 3
Jorgen 3
Joseph 3
Lars 3
Samuel 3
Anders 2
August 2
Claus 2
David 2
F. 2
Fredrick 2
H. 2
Jens 2
Johan 2
Karl 2
L. 2
Ole 2
Oscar 2
P. 2
Paul 2
Saml. 2
W. 2
Andreas 1
Bruno 1
Edwd. 1
Elias 1
Elisha 1
Ellert 1
Emanuel 1
Emmanuel 1
Herbert 1
Wm. 1

FAQ

Hansen surname: questions and answers

How common was the Hansen surname in 1881?

In 1881, 551 people were recorded with the Hansen surname. That placed it at #6,263 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Hansen surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 2,728 in 2016. That gives Hansen a modern rank of #2,461.

What does the Hansen surname mean?

A patronymic surname of Scandinavian origin meaning "son of Hans," derived from the personal name Hans or Johannes.

What does the Hansen map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Hansen bearers relative to the surrounding population.

What records is this surname page based on?

The historical counts come from census surname records. The modern counts and neighbourhood summaries come from later surname distribution records. Counts are recorded bearers in those records, not a live estimate of everyone with the name today.