Heistand last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Heistand

A German surname denoting one from a high place or mountain.

Heistand, 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 Heistand surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Heistand in America

Heistand is the 27974th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Heistand surname appeared 857 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 Heistand.

We can also compare 2010 data for Heistand 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.

20102000Change (%)
Rank27974260357.18%
Count857885-3.21%
Proportion per 100k0.290.33-12.90%

The history of the last name Heistand

The surname HEISTAND is of German origin, tracing its roots back to the 16th century in the region of Bavaria. It is believed to have derived from the German words "heid" and "stand," which together mean "a place where heather grows." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to a person who lived near a heathery area or worked in some capacity related to heather cultivation.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the HEISTAND name can be found in the church records of the town of Augsburg, Bavaria, dating back to the mid-1500s. These records mention a certain Johannes Heistand, born around 1545, who worked as a weaver in the city. Another notable early bearer of the name was Hans Heistand, a farmer from the village of Landshut, who is mentioned in land registry documents from the late 16th century.

In the 17th century, the HEISTAND name began to spread beyond Bavaria as families migrated to other parts of Germany and neighboring regions. For instance, there are records of a Christian Heistand, born in 1612, who settled in the town of Heidelberg and worked as a blacksmith. Additionally, a variant spelling of the name, "Heistandt," appears in the baptismal records of a church in Frankfurt am Main, referring to a child named Anna Heistandt, born in 1675.

As the HEISTAND name continued to spread throughout Europe, it also found its way to other parts of the world through emigration. One notable example is Johann Heistand, born in 1715 in the town of Speyer, Germany, who immigrated to Pennsylvania, United States, in the mid-18th century as part of the German Palatine migration. He and his family settled in the area that is now Lancaster County, establishing a farming community and contributing to the rich German heritage of the region.

Another famous bearer of the HEISTAND surname was the German philosopher and theologian Johann Friedrich Heistand, who lived from 1768 to 1839. He was a prominent figure in the Lutheran Church and authored several influential works on theology and ethics during the German Enlightenment era.

In more recent times, the HEISTAND name has been associated with various notable individuals across different fields. For example, John Heistand (1888-1968) was an American football player and coach who played for the University of Pennsylvania and later coached at several colleges in the United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Heistand

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

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 Heistand was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only96.03%823
Non-Hispanic Black Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only1.05%9
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races1.17%10
Hispanic Origin1.28%11

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

20102000Change (%)
White96.03%95.71%0.33%
Black(S)%(S)%(S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander1.05%(S)%(S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native(S)%1.02%(S)%
Two or More Races1.17%1.24%-5.81%
Hispanic1.28%0.90%34.86%

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

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

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