The Vis surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 874 people carried this name — #27,556 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 333,300 people counted. That is up 19% from 736 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Vis surname
Occupational surname, from vis (“fish”)
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Vis» (Dutch), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 222 people named Vis.
12 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 40 départements, most often Pas-de-Calais.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
29 people named Vis live in Switzerland.
They live in 5 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Aargau.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where 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.
Who carried it
People named Vis,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Loesje Bouwmeester 1912– · actor -
Jan Vis 1933–2011 · politician -
Johannes Pieter Vis 1879–1961 · military personnel
-
Willem Vis 1924–1993
-
John J. Vis 1929–2015 · record producer
-
Rudi Vis 1941–2010 · politician
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Vis.
- Vire 306 · U.S. census
- Virgile 342 · U.S. census
- Virgili 278 · U.S. census
- Virgilio 1,292 · U.S. census
- Virgo 785 · U.S. census
- Virzi 432 · U.S. census
- Visage 301 · U.S. census
- Visca 143 · U.S. census
- Viscaino 247 · U.S. census
- Viscardi 440 · U.S. census
- Visconti 2,540 · U.S. census
- Vise 1,075 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Vis 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.