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

Bernthal, 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 Bernthal surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bernthal in America

Bernthal is the 70208th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bernthal surname appeared 279 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 Bernthal.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bernthal 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 Bernthal

The surname Bernthal originates from Germany, with its earliest recorded use dating back to the 16th century. The name is derived from the Old German words "bern," meaning "bear," and "tal," meaning "valley," suggesting it may have been initially used to describe someone who lived in a valley frequented by bears.

One of the earliest documented references to the Bernthal name can be found in the records of the town of Weil der Stadt, located in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. These records mention a certain Johann Bernthal, who was born in 1592 and worked as a blacksmith.

In the 17th century, the Bernthal surname appears in the parish records of the town of Güglingen, also in Baden-Württemberg. Here, a family by the name of Bernthal is mentioned, with the patriarch being a farmer named Hans Bernthal, who was born around 1620.

As the Bernthal family spread across Germany in the following centuries, variations in spelling emerged, including Bernthal, Berntahl, and Berntaler. Some of these variations may have been influenced by the names of towns or villages where the family resided.

One notable individual bearing the Bernthal surname was Friedrich Bernthal, a German philosopher and educator who lived from 1798 to 1879. He was a proponent of the educational ideas of Johann Friedrich Herbart and served as a professor at the University of Göttingen.

Another prominent figure was Karl Bernthal, a German politician and lawyer who was born in 1854 and served as a member of the Reichstag (the German parliament) from 1898 to 1903, representing the National Liberal Party.

In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the Bernthal name can be found in the 19th century. Johann Bernthal, born in 1825 in Baden-Württemberg, immigrated to the United States in the 1850s and settled in Missouri, where he worked as a farmer.

Additionally, the Bernthal name has been associated with the brewing industry in Germany. In the late 19th century, a brewery called Bernthal Brauerei was established in the city of Stuttgart, which produced beer under the Bernthal brand until its closure in the 1980s.

Over the centuries, the Bernthal surname has spread across various parts of Germany and beyond, with individuals bearing this name making contributions in various fields, from philosophy and politics to agriculture and industry.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bernthal

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

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

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

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