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

Bartels, 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 Bartels surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bartels in America

Bartels is the 4032nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bartels surname appeared 8,809 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Bartels.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bartels 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 Bartels

The surname Bartels originated in the northern regions of Germany, particularly in areas such as Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Schleswig-Holstein. It is believed to have emerged around the 13th or 14th century as a patronymic name, derived from the Germanic personal name Barthold or Bartholomew.

The name Barthold itself is composed of two elements: "bard" meaning "battle" or "warrior," and "hold" meaning "ruler" or "noble." Thus, the name Bartels essentially means "son of Barthold" or "son of the noble warrior." Over time, various spellings emerged, including Bartels, Bartel, Bartels, and Barthels.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bartels can be found in the Bremisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of historical documents from the city of Bremen, dating back to the late 13th century. The name Bartels is also mentioned in the Lübecker Oberstadtbuch, a register of citizens in the city of Lübeck, from the 14th century.

In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the name Bartels was Johann Bartels, a German mathematician and astronomer born in Meldorf, Holstein, in 1570. He made significant contributions to the study of comets and planetary motion.

Another historical figure was Hans Bartels, a German Baroque architect and sculptor active in the 17th century. He was responsible for designing several churches and buildings in the northern German region, including the Marienkirche in Rostock, which was completed in 1670.

In the 18th century, Johann Friedrich Bartels (1737-1806) was a German philologist and librarian who worked at the famous Göttingen University Library. He published several works on classical literature and ancient manuscripts.

During the 19th century, Georg Bartels (1792-1858) was a German writer and journalist who published numerous novels and historical works. He is particularly known for his novel "Die Hermannschlacht" (The Battle of Arminius), which depicted the famous battle between Germanic tribes and the Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest.

Moving into the 20th century, Julius Bartels (1899-1964) was a German geophysicist and meteorologist who made significant contributions to the study of geomagnetism and the Earth's ionosphere. He developed the concept of the "Bartels Rotation," which describes the periodic variations in the Earth's magnetic field.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bartels

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

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

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

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