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

Bachman, 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 Bachman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bachman in America

Bachman is the 2763rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bachman surname appeared 13,057 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Bachman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bachman 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 Bachman

The surname Bachman originated in Germany, tracing its roots back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word "bach," meaning a small stream or brook, and "mann," meaning man or person. This suggests that the name originally referred to someone who lived near a small stream or worked with water.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Bachman can be found in various German documents and records from the 13th and 14th centuries. For example, the name appears in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of charters and documents from Saxony, dating back to the year 1282.

In the 15th century, the name Bachman appeared in the Berne Shtetl Book, a historical document from the town of Berne in Switzerland. This record includes several individuals with the surname Bachman, indicating that the name had spread beyond Germany by that time.

One of the earliest notable figures with the surname Bachman was Johann Bachman (1586-1656), a German theologian and professor at the University of Jena. He was renowned for his scholarly works on biblical exegesis and church history.

Another significant individual was Gottfried Bachman (1687-1756), a German composer and organist who served as the kapellmeister (music director) at the court of Saxe-Merseburg. His compositions, primarily sacred works and concertos, were widely admired during his lifetime.

In the 19th century, John Bachman (1790-1874) was a Lutheran minister, naturalist, and co-author of the renowned work "Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America." He made significant contributions to the study of natural history in the United States.

Rudolph Bachman (1841-1916) was a German-American artist known for his landscape paintings and etchings. He was a member of the Hudson River School and spent much of his career capturing the beauty of the American wilderness.

Another notable figure was Paul Bachman (1913-1997), a German-American mathematician and computer scientist. He made significant contributions to the development of the FORTRAN programming language and was instrumental in the early years of computer science research.

Throughout its history, the surname Bachman has been associated with various professions and fields, including theology, music, natural history, art, and science. While the name may have originated from a geographical reference, it has since become a diverse and widely recognized surname across different cultures and regions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bachman

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

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 Bachman 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 Bachman 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 Bachman was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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