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

Fortman, 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 Fortman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fortman in America

Fortman is the 20541st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fortman surname appeared 1,291 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 Fortman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fortman 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 Fortman

The surname Fortman is believed to have originated in Germany, specifically in the region of Franconia, during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German words "fort" meaning "away" and "man" referring to a person. This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who had moved away from their place of origin or was a traveler.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fortman can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of medieval documents from the 13th century. It mentions a certain "Heinricus Fortman" who was a landowner in the town of Würzburg, Bavaria, in the year 1268.

In the 14th century, the Fortman surname appears in the records of the city of Nuremberg, where a family of that name held prominent positions in the local government. A notable figure was Hans Fortman, who served as a member of the city council in the late 1300s.

During the Renaissance period, a scholar and humanist named Johannes Fortman (1490-1558) gained recognition for his contributions to the field of education. He was born in the town of Münster and later became a professor at the University of Cologne.

The Fortman name also had a presence in the Netherlands, as evidenced by the records of the Dutch East India Company. In the 17th century, a merchant named Pieter Fortman (1615-1678) was involved in the spice trade and made several voyages to the East Indies.

In the 19th century, a German artist named Wilhelm Fortman (1825-1892) gained recognition for his landscape paintings, which often depicted scenes from his native Franconia region. He is considered one of the foremost representatives of the Düsseldorf school of painting.

While the name Fortman has its roots in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world due to migration and diaspora. However, the historical records mentioned above provide a glimpse into the origins and early occurrences of this surname in Europe.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fortman

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

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!