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

Blass, 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 Blass surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Blass in America

Blass is the 15589th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Blass surname appeared 1,876 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 Blass.

We can also compare 2010 data for Blass 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 Blass

The surname Blass is of German origin and dates back to the early 16th century. It is believed to have derived from the Old German word "blas" which means "pale" or "light-colored." The name may have originally been used as a descriptive nickname for someone with a pale complexion or light-colored hair.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Blass can be found in various German parish records and census documents from the 16th and 17th centuries. In the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, a merchant named Hans Blass is mentioned in records from the year 1532. Another early reference comes from the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, where a family with the surname Blass is recorded in the 1612 tax rolls.

Throughout the centuries, the surname Blass has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the earliest was Johann Blass, a German theologian and philosopher who lived from 1615 to 1682. He is known for his work on moral philosophy and his defense of Lutheran orthodoxy. In the 18th century, Johann Amadeus Blass (1738-1811) was a highly respected German composer and organist who served at the court of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg.

In the 19th century, Friedrich Blass (1843-1907) was a prominent German classical scholar and philologist. He made significant contributions to the study of ancient Greek literature and was particularly renowned for his work on the text of the New Testament. Another notable figure was the German sculptor and artist Reinhold Blass (1876-1940), whose works can be found in various museums and public spaces throughout Germany.

One of the most famous individuals with the surname Blass was the German-American historian and political scientist Ernst Blass (1890-1986). Born in Berlin, he emigrated to the United States in the 1930s and became a respected scholar of European history and international relations at Stanford University.

While the surname Blass has its roots in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of Europe and the world through immigration and family migration. Over the centuries, variations in spelling such as Blas, Blasse, and Blaß have also emerged, reflecting regional dialects and language variations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Blass

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

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

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

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