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

Helman, 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 Helman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Helman in America

Helman is the 12370th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Helman surname appeared 2,514 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Helman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Helman 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 Helman

The surname HELMAN is of German origin, and it is believed to have emerged in the late medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century. The name is thought to have derived from the Old German word "helm," which means "helmet" or "protection." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who made or sold helmets, or perhaps a soldier who wore a distinctive helmet.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name HELMAN can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis, a collection of historical documents related to the Margraviate of Brandenburg, dating back to the 13th century. In this collection, a certain "Helmanus de Strausberg" is mentioned, indicating that the name was present in the region during that time.

During the 16th century, the HELMAN surname appears in various records across German-speaking regions, such as the Kirchenbücher (church registers) of Saxony and Bavaria. One notable individual from this period was Hans HELMAN, a merchant from Nuremberg who was born in 1532 and is mentioned in local trade records.

As the centuries progressed, the HELMAN name spread to different parts of Europe, including the Netherlands and England. In the 17th century, a Dutch painter named Isack HELMAN gained recognition for his still-life and genre paintings. He was born in 1619 in Delft and is considered one of the pioneers of the Dutch Golden Age of painting.

In the 18th century, the HELMAN surname can be found in the records of the American colonies, indicating that some individuals with this name had migrated to the New World. One such person was Johann HELMAN, a German immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania in the 1740s and is listed in the ship passenger lists of that period.

Another notable figure with the HELMAN surname was Friedrich HELMAN, a German philosopher and educator who lived from 1770 to 1854. He was a proponent of the Philanthropinum educational movement and authored several works on pedagogy and moral philosophy.

As the 19th century unfolded, the HELMAN name continued to appear in various historical records across Europe and the United States. For instance, Johann HELMAN, a German-American industrialist born in 1812, is credited with establishing one of the first successful smelting operations in the United States, contributing to the growth of the country's steel industry.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Helman

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

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

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

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