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

Ganser, 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 Ganser surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ganser in America

Ganser is the 24124th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ganser surname appeared 1,043 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 Ganser.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ganser 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 Ganser

The surname Ganser is believed to have originated in Germany, specifically in the northern regions of the country, sometime during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Middle High German word "gans," which means "goose." This suggests that the name may have originally been an occupational surname, referring to someone who raised or traded in geese.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Ganser name can be found in the Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of historical documents from the city of Hamburg, dating back to the 13th century. In this record, a person named Hinrich Ganser is mentioned as a resident of the city in 1267.

The Ganser surname also appeared in various other historical records throughout Germany, such as the Bürgeraufnahmebücher (citizenship records) of various cities. For example, a man named Hans Ganser was recorded as a citizen of Nuremberg in 1492.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ganser name was found in several parts of Germany, including the regions of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. One notable individual with this surname was Johann Ganser, a Protestant theologian and writer who lived from 1542 to 1610 and served as a pastor in Altenburg, Saxony.

In the 18th century, the Ganser surname was particularly prevalent in the German states of Bavaria and Württemberg. One prominent figure from this period was Johann Georg Ganser (1721-1798), a German painter and engraver who was born in Augsburg, Bavaria.

As German immigrants began to settle in other parts of Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Ganser surname spread to various countries. For example, Karl Ganser (1868-1938) was an Austrian lawyer and politician who served as the Mayor of Vienna from 1923 to 1934.

Other notable individuals with the Ganser surname include Karl Ganser (1919-1988), a Swiss psychologist known for his research on dissociative disorders, and Helga Ganser (born 1923), a German soprano who had a successful career in opera.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ganser

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

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

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

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