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

Dreier, 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 Dreier surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dreier in America

Dreier is the 15995th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dreier surname appeared 1,815 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 Dreier.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dreier 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 Dreier

The surname DREIER originated in Germany during the late Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word "dreier," which means "group of three" or "threesome." This name likely referred to someone who worked with groups of three people or objects.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the DREIER surname dates back to the 14th century in the town of Nuremberg, where a merchant named Hans DREIER was mentioned in a ledger from 1387. The name also appeared in various records from other German cities like Frankfurt and Munich around this time.

During the 16th century, the DREIER name was found in several historical documents in the region of Bavaria. A notable figure was Georg DREIER (1501-1573), a Protestant reformer and theologian who played a role in the Reformation in Germany.

In the 17th century, the DREIER surname spread to other parts of Europe. Johann DREIER (1624-1697) was a German composer and organist who worked in Copenhagen, Denmark. His works included sacred and secular compositions for voices and instruments.

As the name continued to spread, it also began to appear in different spellings such as DREYER and DREYER. In the 18th century, a famous bearer of the name was Johann Philipp DREYER (1723-1789), a German astronomer and cartographer who created detailed maps of the moon's surface.

Another notable DREIER was Max DREIER (1862-1946), a German-American engineer and inventor who worked on early developments in wireless communication and held several patents related to radio technology. He immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century and lived in New York City.

While the DREIER surname originated in Germany, it eventually spread to other countries through migration and immigration. Some other notable individuals with this last name include Theodor DREIER (1886-1962), a Swiss legal scholar and philosopher, and Thomas DREIER (born 1957), a German legal scholar and professor of law.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dreier

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

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

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

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