Ingebretsen

Ingebretsen is a Scandinavian surname of patronymic origin, derived from the given name Ingebret. The suffix -sen denotes "son of," so the name originally signified "son of Ingebret." The feminine form would historically have been Ingebretsdatter, though modern usage treats Ingebretsen as a gender-neutral family name.

Geographic distribution reflects Norwegian heritage. The surname is most common in Norway and among people of Norwegian descent in North America, particularly in regions with large Norwegian immigrant communities such as the Upper Midwest. Through centuries of migration, bearers of the name established roots in several countries and contributed to local histories.

Linguistic variants include spellings such as Ingebretsen, Ingebretsdatter, and Ingebretson, among other orthographic forms arising from record-keeping in different languages and periods. In North America, Anglicized forms such as Ingebretson are commonly encountered in census records and ship manifests.