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

Bechtold, 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 Bechtold surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bechtold in America

Bechtold is the 8854th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bechtold surname appeared 3,700 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Bechtold.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bechtold 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 Bechtold

The surname Bechtold is of German origin, with its roots traced back to the Middle Ages. The name is believed to have originated from the German personal name "Becht," which is a shortened form of the name "Berthold" or "Bertold." This name itself is derived from the Old German words "beraht," meaning "bright" or "shining," and "waldan," meaning "to rule" or "to govern."

The earliest recorded instances of the name Bechtold can be found in various historical documents from the 13th and 14th centuries in regions of present-day Germany. Some of these records include mentions of individuals such as Johannes Bechtold, a landowner from the town of Mainz in the late 13th century, and Heinrich Bechtold, a merchant from the city of Nuremberg in the mid-14th century.

One notable historical reference to the name Bechtold can be found in the "Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis," a collection of medieval documents from the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This collection includes a charter from the year 1375, which mentions a certain "Conradus Bechtold" as a witness to a land transaction.

During the late Middle Ages and early modern period, the Bechtold name continued to spread across various regions of Germany, and variations of the spelling emerged, such as "Bechtholdt," "Bechtholt," and "Bechthold." In the 16th century, a prominent figure bearing this name was Johann Bechtold (1516-1593), a Lutheran theologian and reformer from the city of Erfurt.

As the centuries progressed, the Bechtold name also gained recognition in other parts of Europe. In the 18th century, Johann Michael Bechtold (1732-1813) was a notable astronomer and mathematician from the town of Ellwangen, in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.

Another individual of note was Franz Bechtold (1753-1827), an Austrian architect and sculptor who was renowned for his work on various churches and public buildings in the city of Vienna during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

In the 19th century, the Bechtold name gained further prominence with individuals such as Karl Bechtold (1801-1876), a German landscape painter and etcher who was a member of the Düsseldorf School of Painting, and Max Bechtold (1854-1943), a German composer and music theorist who taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Leipzig.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bechtold

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

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

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

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