DePenning last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of DePenning

An English habitational surname derived from a family residing near a depended or dependent field.

DePenning, 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 DePenning surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of DePenning in America

DePenning is the 144141st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The DePenning surname appeared 115 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 DePenning.

We can also compare 2010 data for DePenning 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 144141 126400 13.12%
Count 115 125 -8.33%
Proportion per 100k 0.04 0.05 -22.22%

The history of the last name DePenning

The surname Depenning is believed to have originated in the areas of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. It is thought to be derived from the Old German word "deppen," which means "to fill up" or "to heap up." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to someone who worked as a ditch-digger or laborer involved in land reclamation projects.

The earliest recorded instance of the name Depenning can be traced back to the 13th century. It is mentioned in various historical documents from the region, including records from the city of Cologne, Germany. The name was also present in the Netherlands during this time, with variations such as "Depenninck" and "Depennynck" being used.

In the 15th century, the name Depenning appeared in the records of the city of Antwerp, in what is now modern-day Belgium. This suggests that the name had spread across the Low Countries by this point. One notable individual from this period was Jan Depenninck, a merchant who lived in Antwerp during the late 1400s.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Depenning surname continued to be found in various parts of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In the city of Ghent, Belgium, there was a family of brewers and tavern owners with the name Depenninck who were prominent in the local community.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Depenning was Hans Depenning, a German farmer who lived in the village of Büren, near Paderborn, in the late 16th century. Another early bearer of the name was Christoph Depenning, a craftsman from the town of Soest, in Westphalia, Germany, who lived in the mid-17th century.

In the 18th century, the Depenning name continued to be found in various parts of Germany and the Low Countries. One notable individual from this period was Johann Friedrich Depenning, a German theologian and author who lived from 1737 to 1808. He wrote several books on religious subjects and served as a pastor in various churches in the region.

As the centuries progressed, the Depenning surname spread to other parts of Europe and eventually to other parts of the world, including North America and Australia, through migration and immigration. However, its roots can be traced back to the areas of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, where it originated as a name associated with manual labor and land reclamation.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name DePenning

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

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 DePenning was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 96.52% 111
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.00% 0
Hispanic Origin (S)% (S)

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 96.52% 96.80% -0.29%
Black (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.00% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic (S)% (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 DePenning was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

Reference this page

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"DePenning last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 15, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/depenning-surname-popularity/.

"DePenning last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/depenning-surname-popularity/. Accessed 15 July, 2025

DePenning last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/depenning-surname-popularity/.

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