A Norwegian and Danish surname, Poulsen come from the names ‘poul’ and ‘pal’ which is a common name for the ancient Vikings. Spelling variations for Poulsen include Pole, Poulsin, Poleson, Polson and Poulson. The nation of Denmark has the great Poulsen population. Next would be Sweden, then Norway and finally Germany in the number of Poulsen families. In England the largest population region for the Poulsen families is Yorkshire. Other neighboring counties of Durham, Lancashire, Cheshire and Northumberland also have many Poulsen families. An additional location is the city of London and Middlesex. The county of Fife in Scotland has a significant population of Poulsen families. Within the United States the Poulsen families lived mostly in the Great Plains and far western states. The greater numbers resided in California, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Washington and then some further east in Illinois and New York. Famous: Christian Poulsen (professional footballer from Denmark), Hans Poulsen (a singer and songwriter from Australia), Valdemar Poulsen (a Danish engineer who developed the magnetic tape recorder) and Simon Poulsen (a professional footballer from Denmark).