The Degen surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 1,997 people carried this name — #14,838 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 147,100 people counted. That is up 11% from 1,807 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Degen surname
In isolated cases it can also be from Degen (“rapier”), for someone who made or wore such weapons, and from Middle High German dechen (“dean”, modern German Dechant).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Degen» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
1,252 people named Degen live in Switzerland.
They live in 21 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Basel-Landschaft.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 126 people named Degen.
19 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 23 départements, most often Haut-Rhin.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In the Nordic population registers
38 people named Degen is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Degen in American newspapers,
1894–1913.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 39,222 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Degen,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Jakob Schegk 1511–1587 · physician -
Johann Jakob Schegk 1565–1599
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Alberich Degen 1625–1686 · religious person
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Franz Rudolf Degen 1700–1759 · judge
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Dismar Degen 1700–1753 · court painter
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Nikolaus Degen 1700–1778
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Degen.
- Defrance 785 · U.S. census
- Dega 118 · U.S. census
- Degan 687 · U.S. census
- Degand 290 · U.S. census
- Degano 103 · U.S. census
- Dege 209 · U.S. census
- Degeorge 2,443 · U.S. census
- Degiovanni 181 · U.S. census
- Degrace 576 · U.S. census
- Degraeve 194 · U.S. census
- Degrand 418 · U.S. census
- Degrande 409 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Degen is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.