Find out how popular the last name Goldwasser is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Goldwasser.
A German surname meaning "golden water" or "gold water".
Goldwasser, 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 Goldwasser surname is from the 2010 census data.
Goldwasser is the 35395th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Goldwasser surname appeared 636 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 Goldwasser.
We can also compare 2010 data for Goldwasser 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.
| 2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 35395 | 36572 | -3.27% |
| Count | 636 | 577 | 9.73% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.22 | 0.21 | 4.65% |
The surname Goldwasser is of German origin, originating in the late Middle Ages or Early Modern period. It is a compound name derived from the German words "gold" meaning gold and "wasser" meaning water.
The name likely referred to someone who lived near a body of water such as a river or lake that had a golden or yellowish hue. It could also have been an occupational name for someone who panned for gold in a river or stream.
Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name Goldwasser can be found in historical records from the 16th and 17th centuries in regions of Germany such as Bavaria and Saxony. The spelling "Goldwasser" is the most common variant, but other spellings like "Goldwasszer" and "Goldwassser" have also been documented.
One notable early bearer of the Goldwasser name was Johann Goldwasser (1524-1588), a German Protestant theologian and reformer from Nuremberg. He was a key figure in the spread of Lutheranism in southern Germany.
In the 18th century, there are records of a Jewish family named Goldwasser living in the town of Fürth, near Nuremberg. One member, Moses Goldwasser (1720-1789), was a prominent rabbi and scholar who wrote influential works on Jewish law and philosophy.
As the name spread across German-speaking regions, variants like "Goldwascher" (meaning "gold washer" or "gold panner") also emerged. This form was adopted by some families whose ancestors likely worked in gold mining or panning.
Another notable bearer was Wilhelm Goldwasser (1828-1896), a 19th century German industrialist and entrepreneur who founded a successful machine tool manufacturing company in Leipzig.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous people with the surname was Fritz Goldwasser (1906-1988), a German-American chemist who made significant contributions to polymer chemistry and synthetic rubber development.
We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Goldwasser.
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:
For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Goldwasser was:
| Race/Ethnicity | Percentage | Total Occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Hispanic White Only | 95.13% | 605 |
| Non-Hispanic Black Only | (S)% | (S) |
| Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only | (S)% | (S) |
| Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.00% | 0 |
| Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races | 1.26% | 8 |
| Hispanic Origin | 2.83% | 18 |
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 Goldwasser has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.
| 2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 95.13% | 96.36% | -1.28% |
| Black | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Two or More Races | 1.26% | 0.00% | 200.00% |
| Hispanic | 2.83% | 2.95% | -4.15% |
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 Goldwasser was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.
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