2000
#146,011
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 104
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Drube
A German occupational surname derived from the Old German word "druobi" meaning grape or wine grower.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 118 Americans carry the last name Drube. That puts it at #154,182 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,904,698 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Drube surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
118
1 in 2,904,698
Census rank
#154,182
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
103
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 103 bearers of the surname Drube in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 154182nd position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Drube, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Drube
The surname Drube is of German origin and dates back to the mid-16th century. It is believed to have originated from the Old German word "drub", which meant "thick" or "dense". This suggests that the name may have initially referred to a person of stout or robust build.
The Drube name was first recorded in the regions of Saxony and Thuringia, in central Germany. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in parish records and tax rolls from villages in these areas during the 1500s and 1600s.
One of the earliest known references to the Drube name is found in a 1572 document from the town of Altenburg in Saxony, which mentions a certain Hans Drube, a local landowner. Another early record is from 1619, which lists a Christoph Drube as a resident of the village of Kirchberg in Thuringia.
In the 18th century, there are records of a family of Drubes living in the town of Zwickau in Saxony. One notable member of this family was Johann Gottlieb Drube, a renowned clockmaker who was born in Zwickau in 1742 and died in 1823.
The surname Drube has also been found in other parts of Germany, particularly in the regions of Brandenburg and Silesia. In the 19th century, a prominent figure with this name was the German philosopher and educator Friedrich Drube, who was born in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) in 1812 and died in 1867.
Other notable individuals with the Drube surname include Karl Drube, a 19th-century German author and journalist, and Theodor Drube, a German-American painter who was born in Hanover in 1848 and later immigrated to the United States.
While the Drube name is relatively uncommon outside of Germany, it has been carried by families to other parts of the world through emigration. However, the earliest roots and origins of this surname can be traced back to the rural regions of central Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Drube
Among Census respondents with the surname Drube, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Drube bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Drube surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.2% · 95
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 3
- Black or African American1.0% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Drube
Drube appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#160,975
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 100
-4 bearers (-3.8%)
Per 100,000 0.03
Rank movement Down 14,964 places
2020
#154,182
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 103
+3 bearers (+3.0%)
Per 100,000 0.03
Rank movement Up 6,793 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #146,011 | 104 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #160,975 | 100 | 0.03 | -4 bearers (-3.8%) | Down 14,964 places |
| 2020 | #154,182 | 103 | 0.03 | +3 bearers (+3.0%) | Up 6,793 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Drube surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #160,975 | #154,182 | 4.2% |
| Count | 100 | 103 | 3.0% |
| Per 100K | 0.03 | 0.03 | 14.9% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Drube bearers went from 100 to 103 (+3.0% change). The surname moved up 6,793 positions in the national ranking, going from #160,975 to #154,182.
FAQ
Drube surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Drube?
Name Census estimates that about 118 living Americans carry the surname Drube. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,904,698 residents.
How common is Drube?
Drube ranks #154,182 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 103 people with the surname Drube. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (118), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.03 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.03 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Drube.
Has Drube become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Drube went from 100 recorded bearers to 103. That is an increase of 3 (+3.0%). In the national ranking it rose from #160,975 to #154,182.
What does the Census say about the background of Drube?
Among Census respondents with the surname Drube, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Drube in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.2% (95 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Drube appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (92.2%), Hispanic (3.9%), American Indian/Alaska Native (2.9%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Drube (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Drube mean?
A German occupational surname derived from the Old German word "druobi" meaning grape or wine grower. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Drube (0.03 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the surname Drube?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.