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

Herzog, 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 Herzog surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Herzog in America

Herzog is the 3239th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Herzog surname appeared 11,146 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Herzog.

We can also compare 2010 data for Herzog 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 Herzog

The surname Herzog has its origins in Germany, where it first emerged in the early medieval period, around the 12th century. The name is derived from the German word "Herzog," which means "duke" or "leader." This suggests that the earliest bearers of this surname may have held positions of authority or been associated with a ruling ducal house.

In its earliest recorded instances, the name was often spelled with variations like "Herzoge" or "Hertzog." It is likely that these variations stemmed from regional dialects and evolving orthographic conventions of the time. One of the earliest documented references to the name can be found in the medieval Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of official documents and charters from the Holy Roman Empire.

The Herzog surname is thought to have originated in the regions of Bavaria and Franconia, where many noble families and dukedoms were concentrated during the Middle Ages. Some of the earliest known bearers of the name include Johann Herzog, a prominent merchant from Nuremberg born in 1452, and Ulrich Herzog, a scholar and theologian from Augsburg who lived in the late 15th century.

In the 16th century, the name gained further prominence with the rise of the Herzog family of bankers and merchants in Augsburg. This family played a significant role in the economic and cultural life of the city and was closely associated with the Fugger banking dynasty. One notable member was Anton Herzog (1500-1566), a successful merchant and philanthropist who funded the construction of several churches and charitable institutions in Augsburg.

Moving into the 17th and 18th centuries, the Herzog surname continued to be well-represented among the German nobility and intellectual elite. Notable figures from this period include Johann Baptist Herzog (1627-1699), a Jesuit theologian and philosopher from Bamberg, and Johann Jakob Herzog (1734-1799), a prominent jurist and professor of law at the University of Heidelberg.

Throughout the 19th century, the Herzog name gained further recognition with individuals such as Wilhelm Herzog (1801-1867), a German philologist and professor at the University of Jena, and Johann Jakob Herzog (1805-1882), a Swiss Protestant theologian and Biblical scholar who was a professor at the University of Erlangen.

In more recent times, the Herzog surname has been carried by several notable figures, including Alain Herzog (1938-2022), a French philosopher and writer, and Werner Herzog (born 1942), the renowned German film director, screenwriter, and actor known for films such as Fitzcarraldo, Rescue Dawn, and Grizzly Man.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Herzog

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!