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

Berkhimer, 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 Berkhimer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Berkhimer in America

Berkhimer is the 99378th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Berkhimer surname appeared 182 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Berkhimer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Berkhimer 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 Berkhimer

The surname Berkhimer originated in Germany, where it first appeared in the late 16th century. It is believed to have derived from the German word "Berkhammer," which referred to a type of hammer used in mining or metalworking. This suggests that the name may have initially been an occupational surname given to someone who worked with such tools.

The earliest known record of the name Berkhimer dates back to 1592, when a Johann Berkhimer was mentioned in a registry of births in the town of Aachen, located in what is now western Germany near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. Other early spellings of the name included Berkhaymer, Berckheimer, and Berckheymer.

In the 17th century, the name Berkhimer began to appear in various church records and legal documents across different regions of Germany. One notable example is Matthias Berkhimer, a blacksmith born in 1621 in the town of Mainz, who was mentioned in local tax records from the 1650s.

As the Berkhimer family spread throughout Germany over the centuries, the name also became associated with certain place names. For instance, there was a small village called Berkhimersdorf in what is now the state of Bavaria, which may have been named after an early settler or landowner with the Berkhimer surname.

While the name Berkhimer remained relatively uncommon outside of Germany for many years, it eventually began to appear in other parts of Europe and North America as people immigrated to new lands. One of the earliest known individuals with this surname in North America was Johann Berkhimer, who was born in 1712 in the German town of Heidelberg and later immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1740s.

Other notable individuals with the surname Berkhimer throughout history include:

1. Wilhelm Berkhimer (1792-1867), a German philosopher and professor at the University of Göttingen.
2. Anna Berkhimer (1834-1912), a German-American woman who was one of the first female medical doctors in the United States.
3. Heinrich Berkhimer (1861-1938), a German-born architect who designed several prominent buildings in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
4. Otto Berkhimer (1887-1965), a German-American chemist who made significant contributions to the development of synthetic rubber during World War II.
5. Elise Berkhimer (1910-1996), a German-American author and journalist who wrote several books about her experiences growing up in Nazi Germany and later immigrating to the United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Berkhimer

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

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

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

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