2000
#26,056
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 884
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.33
Very Rare Last name
Benfer
An occupational surname derived from the German "Bentfer" meaning a maker of baskets or furniture from wicker.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 945 Americans carry the last name Benfer. That puts it at #30,365 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.28 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 362,703 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Benfer surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
945
1 in 362,703
Census rank
#30,365
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.3
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
824
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 824 bearers of the surname Benfer in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.28 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 30365th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Benfer, the largest self-reported group is White at 94.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.8%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Benfer
The surname Benfer is thought to have originated in Germany, likely in the 16th or 17th century. It is believed to be derived from the German word "benfer," which means "one who dyes or stains fabric." This suggests that the name may have been an occupational surname, given to someone whose trade was dyeing or staining fabrics.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Benfer can be found in various German church records and municipal documents from the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the earliest known references is to a Hans Benfer, who was born in 1635 in the town of Wittenberg, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Another notable early bearer of the name was Johann Benfer, born in 1692 in the village of Niederwerrn, in the Rhön Mountains region of Bavaria. Johann was a weaver by trade, which aligns with the occupational origin of the name.
In the 19th century, the Benfer name appeared in several German-language publications, including a reference to a Carl Benfer, who was a prominent businessman and landowner in the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in Bavaria, in the 1850s.
As the Benfer family spread across Germany and beyond, variations in the spelling of the name began to emerge. Some of these include Benfehr, Benfehr, and Benferr, among others.
One of the earliest known instances of the Benfer name outside of Germany was in the United States, where a Johann Friedrich Benfer emigrated from Hesse-Darmstadt in the 1760s and settled in Pennsylvania. His descendants went on to become prominent members of the German-American community in the region.
Other notable individuals with the surname Benfer include Karl Benfer, a German-born American artist and illustrator who lived from 1856 to 1934, and Hans Benfer, a German-born Swiss painter and engraver who was active in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benfer
Among Census respondents with the surname Benfer, the largest self-reported group is White at 94.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Benfer bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Benfer surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White94.3% · 777
- Two or more races2.8% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 5
- Black or African American0.5% · 4
Timeline
Historical Census data for Benfer
Benfer appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#26,833
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 906
+22 bearers (+2.5%)
Per 100,000 0.31
Rank movement Down 777 places
2020
#30,365
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 824
-82 bearers (-9.1%)
Per 100,000 0.28
Rank movement Down 3,532 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #26,056 | 884 | 0.33 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #26,833 | 906 | 0.31 | +22 bearers (+2.5%) | Down 777 places |
| 2020 | #30,365 | 824 | 0.28 | -82 bearers (-9.1%) | Down 3,532 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Benfer surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #26,833 | #30,365 | -13.2% |
| Count | 906 | 824 | -9.1% |
| Per 100K | 0.31 | 0.28 | -11.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Benfer bearers went from 906 to 824 (-9.1% change). The surname moved down 3,532 positions in the national ranking, going from #26,833 to #30,365.
FAQ
Benfer surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Benfer?
Name Census estimates that about 945 living Americans carry the surname Benfer. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 362,703 residents.
How common is Benfer?
Benfer ranks #30,365 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.28 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 824 people with the surname Benfer. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (945), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.28 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.28 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Benfer.
Has Benfer become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Benfer went from 906 recorded bearers to 824. That is a decrease of 82 (-9.1%). In the national ranking it fell from #26,833 to #30,365.
What does the Census say about the background of Benfer?
Among Census respondents with the surname Benfer, the largest self-reported group is White at 94.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.8%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Benfer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.3% (777 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Benfer appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (94.3%), Two or More Races (2.8%), Hispanic (1.8%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Benfer (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Benfer mean?
An occupational surname derived from the German "Bentfer" meaning a maker of baskets or furniture from wicker. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Benfer (0.28 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Benfer?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.