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

Foerster, 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 Foerster surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Foerster in America

Foerster is the 11312th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Foerster surname appeared 2,792 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 Foerster.

We can also compare 2010 data for Foerster 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 Foerster

The surname Foerster originated in Germany and is an occupational name for a forester or woodsman. It is derived from the Middle High German word "forster" or "forstere," meaning a forest ranger or keeper of the woods. The name likely emerged during the medieval period when forestry and woodland management was an important occupation.

The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 13th century in various regions of Germany. One of the first known bearers was Ulrich der Forstere, mentioned in records from Worms in 1295. The name also appeared in the forms Forster, Förster, and Forstner in different locales.

In the 14th century, the name Foerster can be found in the records of Nuremberg, where a certain Cunrat Forster was documented in 1348. This suggests that the name had spread to various parts of Germany by this time.

During the 15th century, the name appeared in the form Forstar in the town of Eschwege, Hesse, where a Heynrich Forstar was recorded in 1478. This variation highlights the differences in spelling and pronunciation that existed across regions.

One notable bearer of the name was Georg Forster (1754-1794), a German naturalist, ethnologist, and revolutionary writer who accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific. He wrote detailed accounts of the peoples and cultures he encountered, making significant contributions to the fields of anthropology and ethnography.

Another famous Foerster was Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster (1869-1966), a German philosopher and pacifist who was a vocal opponent of militarism and a proponent of international understanding. He co-founded the German Peace Society and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize multiple times.

In the 16th century, the name appeared in the form Förster in the records of the town of Schmalkalden, where a Hans Förster was mentioned in 1543. This spelling variation likely reflected regional pronunciation differences.

The surname Foerster can also be found in historical records from other German-speaking regions, such as Austria and Switzerland, indicating the widespread presence of the name across the German-speaking world.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Foerster

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

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

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

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