Detmer last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Detmer

A German surname derived from a variant of the personal name "Theodmar."

Detmer, 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 Detmer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Detmer in America

Detmer is the 26630th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Detmer surname appeared 915 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 Detmer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Detmer 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 26630 25356 4.90%
Count 915 917 -0.22%
Proportion per 100k 0.31 0.34 -9.23%

The history of the last name Detmer

The surname DETMER originated in Germany and can be traced back to the 13th century. It is believed to be derived from the Old Germanic word "dettmar," which means "great" or "famous." The name was initially found in the regions of Lower Saxony and Westphalia.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name DETMER appears in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of historical documents from the Kingdom of Saxony, dating back to the year 1276. This document mentions a person named "Detmarus de Halberstadt."

In the 14th century, the name DETMER was also found in the records of the city of Bremen, where a merchant named "Johan Detmer" was mentioned in a trade agreement with the Hanseatic League in 1387.

During the 16th century, a notable figure with the surname DETMER was Matthias Detmer, a German theologian and reformer born in 1527 in Oldenburg. He played a significant role in the spread of Lutheranism in northern Germany.

In the 17th century, the name DETMER appeared in the Palatine immigration records of New York, where Johann Detmer and his family were listed as arriving in 1710 from the town of Detmold, which may have been the origin of their surname.

Another prominent individual with the surname DETMER was Johann Friedrich Detmer, a German botanist and professor born in 1799 in Oldenburg. He made significant contributions to the study of plant physiology and authored several scientific works.

In the 19th century, a well-known figure with the surname DETMER was Wilhelm Detmer, a German botanist and plant physiologist born in 1835 in Diepholz. He was the author of the influential textbook "Das Pflanzenphysiologische Praktikum" and served as a professor at the University of Jena.

Throughout history, the surname DETMER has also been associated with various place names, such as Detmering, a village in Bavaria, and Detmerode, a former municipality in Lower Saxony, which may have influenced the spelling and variations of the name.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Detmer

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

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 Detmer was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.75% 867
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 1.09% 10
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.86% 17
Hispanic Origin 1.75% 16

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.75% 96.40% -1.73%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.09% 0.65% 50.57%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 1.86% 1.20% 43.14%
Hispanic 1.75% 1.20% 37.29%

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

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

Reference this page

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"Detmer last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 9, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/detmer-surname-popularity/.

"Detmer last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/detmer-surname-popularity/. Accessed 9 July, 2025

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

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