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

Haber, 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 Haber surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Haber in America

Haber is the 6458th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Haber surname appeared 5,258 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Haber.

We can also compare 2010 data for Haber 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 Haber

The surname Haber originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word "Haber" which means oats or a kind of cereal grain. The name likely referred to someone who grew or traded in oats or worked as a miller grinding oats into flour.

In the 12th century, the name Haber appeared in records from the Rhineland region of Germany. Variations in spelling included Habere, Heberer, and Habermann. These early spellings suggest the name was closely tied to the German word for oats during its origin.

One of the earliest known bearers of the Haber name was Otto Haber, a merchant from Frankfurt who lived in the late 13th century. Around 1325, a Philip Haber is recorded as residing in the town of Nürnberg.

The Haber name spread across Germany over the centuries. In 1487, Hans Haber is listed as a resident of Heidelberg. A 1523 record shows a Konrad Haber living in Augsburg.

A notable early bearer was Meister Haber, a German sculptor active in the early 16th century. He is known for creating ornate woodcarvings and altarpieces found in churches across southern Germany.

Moving into the 17th century, Wilhelm Haber (1596-1652) was a respected jurist and legal scholar from Leipzig. His writings on Roman and German law were influential.

In the 1800s, the chemist Fritz Haber (1868-1934) achieved great renown for developing the Haber process to synthesize ammonia, work that earned him the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Johann Haber (1857-1916) was a German painter during this era known for portraits and rural landscapes.

More recently, Sir Harrison Haber (1909-1985) was a British physicist who made key contributions to optics and spectroscopy over his career. Vincent Haber (1915-2003) was an American actor who appeared in many films and television shows from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Haber

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

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

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

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