Find out how popular the last name Ashenfelter is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Ashenfelter.

Ashenfelter, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Ashenfelter surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ashenfelter in America

Ashenfelter is the 29117th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ashenfelter surname appeared 814 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Ashenfelter.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ashenfelter to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Ashenfelter

The surname Ashenfelter is believed to have originated in Germany, with records dating back to the 16th century. The name is derived from the German words "asche," meaning ash, and "feld," meaning field, suggesting it may have been an occupational name for someone who worked on ash-covered fields or a descriptive name for someone living near such fields.

One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in a German church registry from the town of Heilbronn in 1587, where a family by the name of Aschenfelder was recorded. It's possible that the spelling variation occurred due to regional dialects or scribal errors.

In the 17th century, the Ashenfelter name appears in various documents from the Palatinate region of Germany, indicating that the family may have originated or settled there before some members emigrated to other parts of Europe or the American colonies.

One notable bearer of the name was Johann Ashenfelter, a German theologian and philosopher who lived from 1678 to 1752. He was known for his writings on ethics and moral philosophy and served as a professor at the University of Heidelberg.

In the 18th century, the name made its way to the American colonies, with records showing Ashenfelters settling in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. One of the earliest known Ashenfelters in America was Johann Ashenfelter, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1743 from the Palatinate region of Germany.

Another prominent figure with the Ashenfelter name was Horace Ashenfelter, an American athlete who won the gold medal in the steeplechase event at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He was born in 1923 in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and served in the United States Army during World War II before pursuing a career in sports and later becoming an FBI agent.

Other notable individuals with the Ashenfelter surname include Abram Ashenfelter (1793-1860), a farmer and politician from Pennsylvania who served in the state legislature, and Charles Ashenfelter (1865-1938), a businessman and philanthropist from New Jersey who donated funds for the construction of several educational and religious institutions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ashenfelter

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Ashenfelter.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Ashenfelter was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Ashenfelter has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Ashenfelter was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Ashenfelter, please contact us.

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