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

Dieter, 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 Dieter surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dieter in America

Dieter is the 9818th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dieter surname appeared 3,298 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 Dieter.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dieter 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 Dieter

The surname Dieter has its origins in Germany, where it first emerged in the late medieval period. It is derived from the Old German name Dietrich, which itself comes from the Germanic elements "theud" meaning "people" and "ric" meaning "ruler". The name was originally a title denoting one who ruled over the people.

In the 11th century, the surname began to appear in various historical records across the German states. One of the earliest known bearers was a knight named Dietrich von Bern, who was mentioned in the Nibelungenlied, a renowned epic poem from around 1200 AD. The name also appeared in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of ancient German charters and documents.

The earliest spelling variations of the name included Diether, Diethers, and Dieters, reflecting the regional dialects and scribal practices of the time. Several place names in Germany, such as Dietersheim and Dieterskirchen, are thought to have been named after individuals with the Dieter surname.

Notable historical figures with the surname Dieter include Johann Dieter von Isenburg (1460-1520), a German nobleman and military commander; Georg Dieter (1555-1597), a German theologian and Reformist writer; and Johann Dieter Wasserhun (1656-1737), a German painter and printmaker of the Baroque period.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the surname spread beyond Germany as Dieter families emigrated to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas. One prominent bearer was Johann Dieter von Wallhausen (1635-1719), a German-born military officer who served in the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War and later became a Governor of Swedish Pomerania.

Another notable individual was Johann Dieter Wassmann (1692-1782), a German-born architect and military engineer who worked for the Danish royal court and designed several fortifications and buildings in Denmark and Norway. In the 19th century, Heinrich Dieter (1819-1898) was a German-American architect and civil engineer who designed numerous buildings and bridges in the United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dieter

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

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

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

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