Buchalter last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Buchalter

A German occupational surname meaning bookkeeper, accountant or cashier.

Buchalter, 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 Buchalter surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Buchalter in America

Buchalter is the 53667th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Buchalter surname appeared 385 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 Buchalter.

We can also compare 2010 data for Buchalter 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.

20102000Change (%)
Rank53667485679.98%
Count385408-5.80%
Proportion per 100k0.130.15-14.29%

The history of the last name Buchalter

The surname BUCHALTER has its origins in the German language, tracing back to the Middle Ages in the region of what is now southern Germany and parts of Austria. The name is derived from the German words "Buch," meaning "beech," and "Alter," meaning "old," suggesting a connection to an ancient beech tree or a place with numerous beech trees.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name BUCHALTER can be found in the Codex Traditionum Monasterii Sancti Emmerami, a medieval manuscript from the 9th century documenting land transactions in the area around the Benedictine monastery of St. Emmeram in Regensburg, Bavaria. The name appears in reference to a landowner named Buochaltar, indicating the surname's use during that time period.

In the 13th century, records from the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria mention a family with the surname BUCHALTER, indicating their presence in the region. The name is also found in various historical documents from towns and villages in southern Germany and Austria, such as Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Vienna.

One notable individual with the surname BUCHALTER was Johannes Buchalter (1504-1566), a German humanist scholar, and theologian who served as the rector of the University of Tübingen. Another early bearer of the name was Hans Buchalter (1547-1612), a German goldsmith and sculptor who worked in Nuremberg.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, several members of the BUCHALTER family were involved in the brewing industry in Bavaria, with records showing their involvement in the production and distribution of beer. This association with the brewing trade may have contributed to the spread of the surname in the region.

In the 18th century, Johann Michael Buchalter (1729-1806) was a notable German Catholic theologian and professor at the University of Würzburg. Another individual of note was Georg Buchalter (1768-1842), a German painter and engraver from Nuremberg, known for his landscape paintings and etchings.

As the BUCHALTER family dispersed throughout Germany and Austria over the centuries, variations in spelling emerged, including Buchhalter, Buchholder, and Buchalderrer. However, the core meaning and origin of the name remained tied to its roots in the German language and the association with ancient beech trees or locations rich in beech forests.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Buchalter

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

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 Buchalter was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only95.58%368
Non-Hispanic Black Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races(S)%(S)
Hispanic Origin1.56%6

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 Buchalter has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

20102000Change (%)
White95.58%97.55%-2.04%
Black(S)%(S)%(S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander(S)%(S)%(S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0.00%0.00%
Two or More Races(S)%(S)%(S)%
Hispanic1.56%(S)%(S)%

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

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

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