Gruenhagen last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Gruenhagen

A German surname derived from a place name referring to someone from Grünenbach.

Gruenhagen, 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 Gruenhagen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gruenhagen in America

Gruenhagen is the 49546th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gruenhagen surname appeared 424 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 Gruenhagen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gruenhagen 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 49546 45735 8.00%
Count 424 440 -3.70%
Proportion per 100k 0.14 0.16 -13.33%

The history of the last name Gruenhagen

The surname Gruenhagen has its origins in the northern regions of Germany, particularly in Lower Saxony. The name can be traced back to the early 13th century and is derived from the Old German words "gruen" meaning green and "hagen" meaning grove or hedge. It is believed that the name was initially given to someone who lived near a green grove or thicket.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gruenhagen dates back to 1257, where a person named Henricus de Gruenhagen is mentioned in a land deed from the town of Hildesheim. This document suggests that the name was already well-established in the region by that time.

During the Middle Ages, the Gruenhagen name appeared in various manuscripts and records, including the Bremisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of documents from the former Archbishopric of Bremen. In the year 1349, a certain Hans Gruenhagen is listed as a landowner in the village of Wolthausen.

The name Gruenhagen has also been associated with several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest was Johannes Gruenhagen, a Lutheran theologian and reformer who lived from 1506 to 1573. He played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation and served as a professor at the University of Wittenberg.

Another prominent figure bearing the Gruenhagen surname was Carl Friedrich Gruenhagen, a German mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1766 to 1838. He made important contributions to the fields of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.

In the 19th century, Wilhelm Gruenhagen (1804-1879) was a German painter and lithographer known for his landscapes and architectural depictions. His works can be found in various museums and collections across Germany.

The Gruenhagen name has also been associated with several places and settlements in Germany. For instance, the village of Gruenhagen is located in the district of Schaumburg, Lower Saxony, and was likely named after the surname itself.

As the name Gruenhagen spread across Europe, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Gruenhagen, Grunehagen, and Grünhagen. This was common practice in the past, as standardized spellings were not yet established.

Overall, the surname Gruenhagen has a rich history rooted in the northern German regions, with its earliest recorded instances dating back to the 13th century. It has been borne by several notable individuals throughout the centuries and has left its mark on various places and settlements in Germany.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gruenhagen

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

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 Gruenhagen was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 95.99% 407
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 2.12% 9
Hispanic Origin (S)% (S)

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 Gruenhagen has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 95.99% 98.18% -2.26%
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 2.12% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic (S)% (S)% (S)%

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

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

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"Gruenhagen last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on June 14, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/gruenhagen-surname-popularity/.

"Gruenhagen last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/gruenhagen-surname-popularity/. Accessed 14 June, 2025

Gruenhagen last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/gruenhagen-surname-popularity/.

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