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

Fehrman, 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 Fehrman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fehrman in America

Fehrman is the 29064th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fehrman surname appeared 816 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 Fehrman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fehrman 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 Fehrman

The surname Fehrman is of German origin, derived from the medieval Germanic word "fehr" which means "travel" or "journey." This name likely originated in the late 13th or early 14th century and was initially used as an occupational surname for those who worked as ferrymen, guides, or travelers.

During the Middle Ages, the name Fehrman was particularly prevalent in the regions of northern Germany, including present-day Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. Some of the earliest recorded instances of this surname can be found in historical documents from cities like Hamburg and Bremen.

One notable early reference to the name Fehrman appears in the Lübeck City Archives, which contains records from the 14th century mentioning a merchant named Hans Fehrman who traded goods along the Baltic Sea routes. Additionally, the Fehrman name is listed in the Kirchenbücher (church records) of several villages in Mecklenburg, dating back to the 16th century.

In the late 17th century, a man named Johann Fehrman (1640-1714) gained recognition as a prominent theologian and Lutheran pastor in the city of Rostock. He authored several religious texts and sermons that were widely circulated throughout northern Germany during his lifetime.

Another notable figure was Friedrich Fehrman (1768-1839), a German jurist and legal scholar who served as a judge in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. His written works on civil law and legal procedures were highly influential in the early 19th century.

During the 19th century, the Fehrman surname began to spread more widely across Germany and into neighboring regions. One example is August Fehrman (1835-1908), a Dutch-born architect who designed several notable buildings in Amsterdam, including the Beurs van Berlage.

As people with the Fehrman name migrated to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas, the spelling of the surname sometimes evolved into variations like Fehrmann, Fehrmen, or Fehrmann. However, the core meaning and origin remained tied to the concept of travel and journeying.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fehrman

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

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

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

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