Dobos last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Dobos

A surname originating from Hungary referring to a drummer.

Dobos, 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 Dobos surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dobos in America

Dobos is the 23515th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dobos surname appeared 1,080 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 Dobos.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dobos 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 23515 22011 6.61%
Count 1,080 1,098 -1.65%
Proportion per 100k 0.37 0.41 -10.26%

The history of the last name Dobos

The surname Dobos has its origins in Hungary, dating back to the 13th century. It is derived from the Hungarian word "dobos," which means "drummer" or "someone who plays the drum." This suggests that the name may have been initially given to individuals whose occupation was related to drumming or music.

The earliest recorded instances of the Dobos surname can be found in various Hungarian historical records and documents from the Middle Ages. One notable example is the mention of a person named Petrus Dobos in a 14th-century document from the town of Buda, which was then the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dobos name gained prominence in the Transylvanian region of modern-day Romania, which was at the time part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Several notable individuals bearing this surname emerged during this period, including János Dobos, a Hungarian nobleman and military leader who fought against the Ottoman Turks in the late 16th century.

Another historical figure of note was György Dobos, a Hungarian Lutheran pastor and writer who lived in the 17th century. He is known for his work in translating and publishing religious texts, contributing to the spread of Protestantism in the region.

In the 19th century, the Dobos surname was associated with the city of Debrecen, a major cultural and educational center in eastern Hungary. One of the most famous individuals with this name was József Dobos, a Hungarian confectioner who invented the iconic Dobos torte, a layered sponge cake with chocolate buttercream filling, in 1885.

Throughout history, variations of the Dobos surname have also been recorded, such as Doboss, Dobosy, and Dobosi, reflecting regional linguistic differences and spelling variations within Hungary and the surrounding areas.

While the Dobos surname is predominantly Hungarian in origin, it has also been found in other parts of Central and Eastern Europe, likely due to migration and intermarriage between different ethnic groups over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dobos

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

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 Dobos was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.17% 1,017
Non-Hispanic Black Only 1.02% 11
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.74% 8
Hispanic Origin 3.15% 34

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.17% 92.90% 1.36%
Black 1.02% 0.91% 11.40%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% 0.64% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.74% 2.55% -110.03%
Hispanic 3.15% 3.01% 4.55%

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

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

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"Dobos last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/dobos-surname-popularity/.

"Dobos last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/dobos-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

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

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