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

Berberich, 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 Berberich surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Berberich in America

Berberich is the 18253rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Berberich surname appeared 1,522 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 Berberich.

We can also compare 2010 data for Berberich 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 Berberich

The surname Berberich originated in Germany, likely in the early medieval period. It is thought to be derived from the Old German words "bere" meaning bear and "rih" meaning powerful or mighty, suggesting it may have been a descriptive surname referring to a person with bear-like strength or power.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of historical documents from the 11th century, where a "Berbericus de Wormacia" (Berberich of Worms) is mentioned. This suggests the name was present in the Rhineland region of Germany during this time.

In the 13th century, a knight named Berberich von Sternberg is recorded as having fought in the Crusades. He likely hailed from the town of Sternberg in what is now the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

A variant spelling "Berbercher" can be found in records from the 15th century in the region of Franconia, such as a reference to a "Hans Berbercher" in the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in 1487.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Johannes Berberich, a Lutheran theologian born in Worms in 1520. He studied at the University of Wittenberg under Martin Luther and later became a pastor in Saxony.

In the 17th century, a notable figure was Georg Berberich (1628-1709), a German jurist and legal scholar who served as a judge and professor of law in Wittenberg and Leipzig.

Another prominent individual was Johann Berberich (1766-1826), a German philologist and educator who served as a professor of classical languages at the University of Heidelberg.

The name Berberich has also been associated with various place names throughout Germany, such as Berberich (a village near Worms), Berbericher Hof (a former manor house in Franconia), and Berbericher Wald (a forest region in Hesse).

While the surname Berberich is not among the most common in Germany today, it has a long and rich history dating back to the medieval period, with roots in the regions of the Rhineland, Franconia, and Saxony.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Berberich

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

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

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

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