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

Gehring, 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 Gehring surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gehring in America

Gehring is the 6638th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gehring surname appeared 5,100 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Gehring.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gehring 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 Gehring

The surname Gehring has its origins in Germany, where it first emerged in the 14th century. The name is derived from the Middle High German word "geren," which means "to desire" or "to crave." This suggests that the name may have been initially given as a nickname to someone with a strong desire or craving for something.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Gehring surname can be found in the town records of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria, where a certain Hans Gehring was mentioned in 1389. In the same region, the name also appeared in various spellings, such as Gering, Gehring, and Gehringe, in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Gehring surname is also linked to several place names in Germany, such as Gehringen, a municipality in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg, and Gehringswalde, a village in Saxony. These place names likely originated from the surname itself or from the word "geren," indicating a connection between the name and specific geographical locations.

Notable individuals with the Gehring surname include Johann Gehring (1600-1663), a German Protestant theologian and professor at the University of Jena, and Johann Georg Gehring (1684-1765), a German composer and organist from Nuremberg. In more recent history, Walter Gehring (1939-2014) was a renowned Swiss developmental biologist and professor at the University of Basel, known for his groundbreaking work on the genetic control of embryonic development.

Other notable figures bearing the Gehring name include Albert Gehring (1840-1918), a German-American architect who designed several prominent buildings in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wilhelm Gehring (1834-1904), a German painter and lithographer from Berlin.

While the Gehring surname is most commonly found in Germany, it has also spread to other parts of the world through immigration. However, it is important to note that this detailed history focuses solely on the surname's origins and early records, without delving into modern census data or its use as a first or given name.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gehring

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Gehring, 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!