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

Guelich, 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 Guelich surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Guelich in America

Guelich is the 106096th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Guelich surname appeared 168 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 Guelich.

We can also compare 2010 data for Guelich 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 Guelich

The surname GUELICH is of German origin, derived from the medieval Germanic personal name 'Wilig'. This name is a combination of the elements 'wil', meaning 'will' or 'desire', and the suffix '-ig', denoting possession. The name likely emerged in the 8th or 9th century in various regions of what is now modern-day Germany.

The earliest known record of the GUELICH name appears in the 11th century Codex Traditionum Corbeiensium, a collection of records from the Benedictine Abbey of Corvey in Westphalia. Here, the name is spelled 'Willich', indicating its close ties to the original Germanic root.

By the 13th century, variations of the name, such as 'Guelich', 'Gülich', and 'Gilich', were found in various regions of Germany, including the Rhineland, Saxony, and Bavaria. The spelling 'GUELICH' is believed to have emerged in the 15th century, influenced by the Low German dialect spoken in areas like Westphalia and the Lower Rhine region.

One of the earliest notable individuals bearing the GUELICH surname was Johann Guelich, a German Protestant theologian born in 1525 in the town of Hameln. He played a significant role in the Reformation movement and was a vocal critic of the Catholic Church's teachings.

Another notable figure was Friedrich Guelich, a German painter and engraver who lived from 1654 to 1712. He is best known for his religious paintings and portraits, many of which can be found in churches and museums throughout Germany.

In the 19th century, the GUELICH name gained prominence with the birth of Friedrich Guelich (1820-1897), a German-American civil engineer and surveyor. He immigrated to the United States in the 1840s and was instrumental in the construction of several major railroads and canals across the country.

Heinrich Guelich (1879-1942), a German-American businessman and politician, was also a notable figure. He served as the mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1916 to 1918 and played a key role in the city's industrial and economic development during the early 20th century.

Finally, the name GUELICH is associated with Erna Guelich (1904-1982), a German-born American artist and sculptor. She gained recognition for her abstract sculptures and was a prominent figure in the New York art scene during the mid-20th century.

While the GUELICH surname may have evolved over centuries, its origins can be traced back to the early medieval period in Germany, where it was deeply rooted in the region's linguistic and cultural heritage.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Guelich

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

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

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

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