2000
#4,998
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 6,436
First available Census row
Per 100,000 2.39
Rare Last name
Booher
A toponymic surname derived from a place name meaning "small hut" or "cottage" in Middle English.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 7,572 Americans carry the last name Booher. That puts it at #5,126 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 2.21 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 45,266 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Booher 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
7.6K
1 in 45,266
Census rank
#5,126
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
2.2
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
6.6K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 6,603 bearers of the surname Booher in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 2.21 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 5126th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Booher, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.2%) and Two or More Races (3.1%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Booher
The surname Booher is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German words "bû" meaning "house" or "dwelling" and "heri" meaning "army" or "warrior." It likely originated in the regions of modern-day Germany or Switzerland during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of medieval documents from the Duchy of Saxony, where a person named Buher is mentioned in a record from the year 1254. This suggests that the name was already in use by the 13th century.
In the 14th century, variations of the name, such as Buoher and Bûher, appeared in the Alsatian region of present-day France, which had strong cultural ties to Germany at the time. This indicates that the name had spread to neighboring areas.
The Booher surname is also found in historical records from the region of Hesse in central Germany. A notable individual was Johannes Booher, a farmer from the village of Niederklein, who was born around 1520 and mentioned in local church records.
In the 16th century, the name appears to have been introduced to England, possibly through German immigrants or mercenaries. One of the earliest recorded instances is that of William Booher, a merchant from London, who was mentioned in the city's guild records in 1587.
Another significant figure was Hans Booher, a German-born soldier who fought in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and later settled in the Netherlands. His descendants can be traced through Dutch records from the 17th century onwards.
In the 18th century, the name began to spread to other parts of Europe and beyond. Johann Booher, a German-born explorer and cartographer, is known for his expeditions in South America in the 1760s, where he mapped previously uncharted regions of the Amazon basin.
As the name spread to different regions, various spellings emerged, such as Buhr, Buhre, and Buehrer. However, the Booher spelling became more prevalent in the English-speaking world, particularly in the United States, where many German and Swiss immigrants settled in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Booher
Among Census respondents with the surname Booher, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.2%) and Two or More Races (3.1%).
The bar chart below shows how Booher 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 Booher surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.3% · 6,026
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 209
- Two or more races3.1% · 206
- Black or African American1.3% · 85
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 30
Timeline
Historical Census data for Booher
Booher 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
#5,075
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 6,900
+464 bearers (+7.2%)
Per 100,000 2.34
Rank movement Down 77 places
2020
#5,126
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 6,603
-297 bearers (-4.3%)
Per 100,000 2.21
Rank movement Down 51 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #4,998 | 6,436 | 2.39 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #5,075 | 6,900 | 2.34 | +464 bearers (+7.2%) | Down 77 places |
| 2020 | #5,126 | 6,603 | 2.21 | -297 bearers (-4.3%) | Down 51 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 Booher 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 | #5,075 | #5,126 | -1.0% |
| Count | 6,900 | 6,603 | -4.3% |
| Per 100K | 2.34 | 2.21 | -5.6% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Booher bearers went from 6,900 to 6,603 (-4.3% change). The surname moved down 51 positions in the national ranking, going from #5,075 to #5,126.
FAQ
Booher surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Booher?
Name Census estimates that about 7,572 living Americans carry the surname Booher. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 45,266 residents.
How common is Booher?
Booher ranks #5,126 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 2.21 per 100,000 residents, which is about 2 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 6,603 people with the surname Booher. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (7,572), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 2.21 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 2.21 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 2 of them to have the surname Booher.
Has Booher become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Booher went from 6,900 recorded bearers to 6,603. That is a decrease of 297 (-4.3%). In the national ranking it fell from #5,075 to #5,126.
What does the Census say about the background of Booher?
Among Census respondents with the surname Booher, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.2%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Booher in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (6,026 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Booher appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (91.3%), Hispanic (3.2%), Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Booher (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 Booher mean?
A toponymic surname derived from a place name meaning "small hut" or "cottage" in Middle English. 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 Booher (2.21 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 people have the last name Booher?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans have the surname Booher at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.