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

Gottfried, 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 Gottfried surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gottfried in America

Gottfried is the 13862nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gottfried surname appeared 2,180 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 Gottfried.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gottfried 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 Gottfried

The surname Gottfried has its origins in Germany, where it first appeared as early as the 12th century. It is derived from the Old German words "gott" meaning "God" and "frid" meaning "peace," indicating that it was originally a descriptive name given to someone who was perceived as being at peace with God or living a godly life.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from Saxony, where a certain "Gottfried de Swalenberge" is mentioned in a charter dated 1195. This suggests that the name may have been particularly prevalent in the regions of Saxony and Northern Germany during the Middle Ages.

In the 13th century, the name appears in various forms in different parts of Germany, such as "Gotfrid," "Gottfrid," and "Godefryd." These variations likely arose due to regional differences in dialect and spelling conventions.

A notable early bearer of the name was Gottfried von Strassburg, a medieval German poet who lived around 1200-1210 and is best known for his unfinished courtly romance "Tristan und Isolde." This work has been celebrated as one of the great masterpieces of Middle High German literature.

Another historical figure with this surname was Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), a German philosopher, theologian, and literary critic who played a significant role in the Sturm und Drang movement and is considered a pioneer of the Romantic movement in literature.

In the 18th century, the German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) made important contributions to fields such as metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and the development of calculus.

The 19th century saw the birth of Gottfried Keller (1819-1890), a Swiss writer and painter who is widely regarded as one of the most important novelists and short story writers of Swiss literature.

Finally, Gottfried Benn (1886-1956) was a German essayist, novelist, and one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, known for his dark and complex works that explored themes of nihilism and modern society.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gottfried

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

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

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

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