2000
#3,401
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 9,637
First available Census row
Per 100,000 3.57
Uncommon Last name
Heckman
An occupational surname referring to someone who lived near a gate or who was a gatekeeper.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 10,591 Americans carry the last name Heckman. That puts it at #3,742 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 3.09 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 32,363 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Heckman 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.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Heckman with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
11K
1 in 32,363
Census rank
#3,742
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
3.1
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
9.2K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 9,236 bearers of the surname Heckman in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 3.09 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 3742nd position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Heckman, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.9%) and Hispanic (2.4%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Heckman
The surname Heckman originated in Germany, specifically in the region of Hesse. It dates back to the Middle Ages, around the 13th to 14th centuries. The name is derived from the German word "Hecke," which means "hedge" or "fence," suggesting that the original bearer of the name may have lived near or worked with hedges or fences.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Heckman can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Anhaltinus, a collection of historical documents from the Anhalt region, where a person named Johannes Heckman is mentioned in the year 1387. Another early reference is in the Kirchenbücher von Hessen (Church Records of Hesse), where a Hans Heckman is listed in the town of Herborn in 1472.
The Heckman surname is also associated with several place names in Germany, such as Heckmünden and Hecklingen, which may have influenced the spelling and variants of the name over time. Variations of the name include Heckmann, Heckmair, and Heckmeyer.
Notable individuals with the Heckman surname throughout history include Johann Heckman (1518-1590), a German Protestant reformer and theologian; Johann Heckman (1572-1639), a German lawyer and legal scholar; Johann Heckman (1673-1731), a German composer and organist; and Gustav Heckman (1824-1906), a German-American entrepreneur and businessman who established the Heckman Brewing Company in New York.
Another remarkable figure is Ewald Heckman (1921-2005), a German-born American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, who made significant contributions to the development of particle accelerators and particle physics. His groundbreaking work laid the foundation for modern particle accelerators used in scientific research and medical applications.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Heckman
Among Census respondents with the surname Heckman, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.9%) and Hispanic (2.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Heckman 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 Heckman surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.5% · 8,544
- Two or more races2.9% · 265
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 223
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 102
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 69
- Black or African American0.4% · 33
Timeline
Historical Census data for Heckman
Heckman 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
#3,668
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 9,709
+72 bearers (+0.7%)
Per 100,000 3.29
Rank movement Down 267 places
2020
#3,742
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 9,236
-473 bearers (-4.9%)
Per 100,000 3.09
Rank movement Down 74 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #3,401 | 9,637 | 3.57 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #3,668 | 9,709 | 3.29 | +72 bearers (+0.7%) | Down 267 places |
| 2020 | #3,742 | 9,236 | 3.09 | -473 bearers (-4.9%) | Down 74 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 Heckman 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 | #3,668 | #3,742 | -2.0% |
| Count | 9,709 | 9,236 | -4.9% |
| Per 100K | 3.29 | 3.09 | -6.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Heckman bearers went from 9,709 to 9,236 (-4.9% change). The surname moved down 74 positions in the national ranking, going from #3,668 to #3,742.
FAQ
Heckman surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Heckman?
Name Census estimates that about 10,591 living Americans carry the surname Heckman. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 32,363 residents.
How common is Heckman?
Heckman ranks #3,742 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 3.09 per 100,000 residents, which is about 3 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 9,236 people with the surname Heckman. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (10,591), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 3.09 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 3.09 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 3 of them to have the surname Heckman.
Has Heckman become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Heckman went from 9,709 recorded bearers to 9,236. That is a decrease of 473 (-4.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #3,668 to #3,742.
What does the Census say about the background of Heckman?
Among Census respondents with the surname Heckman, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.9%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Heckman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.5% (8,544 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Heckman appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (92.5%), Two or More Races (2.9%), Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Heckman (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 Heckman mean?
An occupational surname referring to someone who lived near a gate or who was a gatekeeper. 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 Heckman (3.09 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 are called Heckman?
If you just want to know how many people are called Heckman, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.