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

Gruber, 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 Gruber surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gruber in America

Gruber is the 2558th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gruber surname appeared 14,131 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 people would have the surname Gruber.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gruber 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 Gruber

The surname Gruber originated in the German-speaking regions of Europe, likely in Germany or Austria, sometime during the Middle Ages. The name is derived from the Middle High German word "gruobe," which means "pit" or "quarry." This suggests that the earliest bearers of the name may have lived near or worked in a quarry.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gruber can be found in the Codex Traditionum Monasterii Sancti Petri, a 12th-century manuscript from the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg, Austria. The document mentions a certain "Gruber" who was a landowner in the region.

In the 13th century, a nobleman named Konrad Gruber is mentioned in the Chronica Monasterii Campililiensis, a chronicle of the Cistercian abbey of Kamp in Lower Austria. This suggests that the name had already established itself among the nobility by this time.

The name Gruber is also connected to various place names in German-speaking areas. For example, the village of Gruber in the Bavarian district of Traunstein is likely named after an early settler with the surname Gruber.

One of the most famous individuals with the surname Gruber was Franz Xaver Gruber (1787-1863), an Austrian primary school teacher and church organist who composed the beloved Christmas carol "Silent Night" in 1818, with lyrics by Joseph Mohr.

Other notable individuals with the surname Gruber include:

1. Johann Gruber (1623-1680), an Austrian Jesuit mathematician and astronomer.
2. Johann Gottfried Gruber (1774-1851), a German encyclopedist and author of the Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste.
3. Max von Gruber (1853-1927), an Austrian pathologist and bacteriologist.
4. Hermann Gruber (1891-1975), a German stage and film actor.
5. Ruth Gruber (1911-2016), an American journalist and humanitarian who helped escort Holocaust survivors to the United States after World War II.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gruber

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

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

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

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