2000
#6,086
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 5,202
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.93
Rare Last name
Haber
A German and Jewish occupational surname denoting a person who grew or sold oats or other crops.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 5,652 Americans carry the last name Haber. That puts it at #6,597 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 1.65 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 60,643 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Haber surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
5.7K
1 in 60,643
Census rank
#6,597
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.6
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
4.9K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 4,929 bearers of the surname Haber in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 1.65 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 6597th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Haber, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Two or More Races (2.7%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of 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.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Haber
Among Census respondents with the surname Haber, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Two or More Races (2.7%).
The bar chart below shows how Haber bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Haber surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.1% · 4,342
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 313
- Two or more races2.7% · 131
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 116
- Black or African American0.4% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 7
Timeline
Historical Census data for Haber
Haber appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#6,458
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 5,258
+56 bearers (+1.1%)
Per 100,000 1.78
Rank movement Down 372 places
2020
#6,597
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,929
-329 bearers (-6.3%)
Per 100,000 1.65
Rank movement Down 139 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #6,086 | 5,202 | 1.93 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #6,458 | 5,258 | 1.78 | +56 bearers (+1.1%) | Down 372 places |
| 2020 | #6,597 | 4,929 | 1.65 | -329 bearers (-6.3%) | Down 139 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Haber surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #6,458 | #6,597 | -2.2% |
| Count | 5,258 | 4,929 | -6.3% |
| Per 100K | 1.78 | 1.65 | -7.4% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Haber bearers went from 5,258 to 4,929 (-6.3% change). The surname moved down 139 positions in the national ranking, going from #6,458 to #6,597.
FAQ
Haber surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Haber?
Name Census estimates that about 5,652 living Americans carry the surname Haber. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 60,643 residents.
How common is Haber?
Haber ranks #6,597 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 1.65 per 100,000 residents, which is about 2 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 4,929 people with the surname Haber. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (5,652), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 1.65 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 1.65 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 2 of them to have the surname Haber.
Has Haber become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Haber went from 5,258 recorded bearers to 4,929. That is a decrease of 329 (-6.3%). In the national ranking it fell from #6,458 to #6,597.
What does the Census say about the background of Haber?
Among Census respondents with the surname Haber, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.4%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Haber in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.1% (4,342 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Haber appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (88.1%), Hispanic (6.4%), Two or More Races (2.7%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Haber (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Haber mean?
A German and Jewish occupational surname denoting a person who grew or sold oats or other crops. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Haber (1.65 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people share the surname Haber?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.