Rasmussen
A Scandinavian patronymic meaning “son of Rasmus.”
The #947 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,427 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rasmussen is a Danish and Norwegian patronymic surname formed from the given name Rasmus plus -sen, meaning “son of.” Rasmus is a Scandinavian form of Erasmus, ultimately from Greek *erasmios*, “lovely” or “beloved.” So the surname originally identified someone as the son of a man named Rasmus.
History
The name is especially common in Denmark and Norway, where patronymic surnames of this type became fixed family names in the 18th and 19th centuries. It also spread widely through emigration to North America and other English-speaking countries. In the United States it is found among descendants of Danish and Norwegian immigrants, and sometimes appears in records with simplified or variant spellings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The root name Rasmus is related to Erasmus, the same name behind the humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus.
Notable people named Rasmussen
- Anders Fogh Rasmussen (b. 1953)
- Lars Løkke Rasmussen (b. 1964)
- Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (b. 1943)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.