Eckert last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Eckert

Derived from a German surname meaning "ploughman" or "plough maker," referring to an agricultural occupation.

Eckert, 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 Eckert surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Eckert in America

Eckert is the 2093rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Eckert surname appeared 17,269 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Eckert.

We can also compare 2010 data for Eckert 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 2093 1925 8.36%
Count 17,269 17,161 0.63%
Proportion per 100k 5.85 6.36 -8.35%

The history of the last name Eckert

The surname Eckert is of German origin, and it can be traced back to the late Middle Ages. It is derived from the medieval German word "Ecker," which translates to "cultivator of land" or "farmer." This indicates that the name likely originated among families who worked as farmers or cultivated land in rural areas of present-day Germany.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in various historical records from the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly in regions such as Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia. Some notable early bearers of the name include Hans Eckert, a farmer mentioned in the 1437 tax records of the town of Mühlhausen, and Kunz Eckert, a landowner documented in the 1492 land registry of the village of Friedberg.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Eckert surname began to spread across various parts of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as neighboring regions. This was partly due to the migration of families seeking new opportunities or fleeing religious persecution. In some areas, the name was also spelled as "Eckhart" or "Eckhardt," reflecting regional variations in pronunciation and spelling conventions.

One notable historical figure bearing the Eckert surname was Johann Eckert (1673-1732), a German theologian and author who served as a minister in the city of Altenburg. Another prominent individual was Johann Gottfried Eckert (1735-1805), a German jurist and professor of law at the University of Göttingen.

In the 19th century, the Eckert name began to appear more frequently in various parts of Europe and beyond, as migration patterns expanded. For example, Johann Adam Eckert (1812-1877) was a German-American farmer and settler who migrated to Texas in the 1840s and established a community known as Eckert's Settlement.

Another notable figure was Karl Eckert (1820-1892), a German-American entrepreneur and industrialist who founded the Eckert and Ziegler Brewery in Philadelphia, which became one of the largest breweries in the United States during the late 19th century.

As the Eckert surname spread across different regions and countries, it also gave rise to various place names, such as Eckertshausen in Germany, Eckertsville in Pennsylvania, and Eckert County in Texas, reflecting the influence and settlement patterns of families bearing this name.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Eckert

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

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 Eckert was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 95.33% 16,463
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.23% 40
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.68% 117
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.34% 59
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.33% 230
Hispanic Origin 2.09% 361

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 95.33% 96.43% -1.15%
Black 0.23% 0.27% -16.00%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.68% 0.44% 42.86%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.34% 0.36% -5.71%
Two or More Races 1.33% 1.10% 18.93%
Hispanic 2.09% 1.40% 39.54%

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

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

Reference this page

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If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Eckert last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 4, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/eckert-surname-popularity/.

"Eckert last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/eckert-surname-popularity/. Accessed 4 December, 2024

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

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