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

Hertz, 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 Hertz surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hertz in America

Hertz is the 7788th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hertz surname appeared 4,257 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 Hertz.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hertz 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 Hertz

The surname Hertz originated from Germany and can be traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the German word 'Herz', which means 'heart' or 'deer'. The name was initially used as a descriptive term, referring to either someone with a kind and compassionate nature or someone who was a skilled hunter of deer.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Hertz can be found in the town records of Nuremberg, Bavaria, in 1548, where a certain Hans Hertz was listed as a resident. In the same region, the Hertz family was known to have lived in the village of Herzogenaurach, which may have influenced the spelling and pronunciation of their surname.

During the Middle Ages, the Hertz surname appeared in various German chronicles and manuscripts, often associated with individuals involved in trades or professions related to hunting or game management. For instance, a man named Johann Hertz was documented as a master huntsman in the court records of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1612.

Prominent figures who bore the Hertz surname include Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894), a German physicist renowned for his groundbreaking work on electromagnetic radiation, which laid the foundation for the development of radio technology. Another notable bearer of this name was Gustav Hertz (1887-1975), a German physicist and Nobel laureate who made significant contributions to the study of atomic structure and the properties of free electrons.

Other historical figures with the surname Hertz include Friedrich Hertz (1615-1690), a German jurist and legal scholar; Johann Daniel Hertz (1696-1772), a German composer and organist; and Paul Hertz (1888-1961), a German-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios.

The Hertz surname has also been associated with several place names in Germany, such as Herzogenaurach, a town in Bavaria, and Hertzberg, a village in Lower Saxony. These place names may have influenced the spelling variations of the surname, including Herz, Hertzog, and Hertzig, among others.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hertz

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

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

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

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