2000
#140,756
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 109
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Hofecker
A German surname derived from farming vocabulary, meaning "one who tends to a farmyard or court".
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 134 Americans carry the last name Hofecker. That puts it at #144,270 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,557,868 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Hofecker 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.
Bearers in the US
134
1 in 2,557,868
Census rank
#144,270
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
117
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 117 bearers of the surname Hofecker in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 144270th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Hofecker, the largest self-reported group is White at 100.0%.
Origin
Meaning and origin of Hofecker
The surname Hofecker is of German origin, first appearing in the late 16th century. It is derived from the German words "Hof" meaning court or farm, and "Ecker" meaning field or land. This suggests the name originally referred to someone who lived or worked on a manor farm or court estate.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the parish records of the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria, where a Hanns Hofecker is listed as a resident in 1593. Another early example is Hans Hofecker, born around 1610 in the village of Oberbessenbach, near Würzburg.
The Hofecker name appears to have spread from its origins in Franconia and southern Germany into neighboring regions like Austria and Switzerland over the following centuries. For example, records show a Johannes Hofecker living in Linz, Austria in the late 1600s.
A notable bearer of the name was the Bavarian poet and priest Franz Xaver Hofecker, born in 1770 in Wiesau. He wrote pastoral poetry and hymns drawing on his experiences in rural Bavaria. Another was the Austrian sculptor Josef Hofecker, born in Vienna in 1819, known for his works in churches across Austria.
In Switzerland, the Hofecker family produced several clockmakers and artisans from the 18th century onwards, based in the Jura mountains region near Basel. This includes Johann Hofecker, a notable maker of longcase clocks born in Laufenburg in 1745.
As the name spread more widely, other early bearers include the Prussian military officer Ludwig Hofecker (1798-1864) who served in the Napoleonic Wars, and the German explorer and naturalist Franz Hofecker (1816-1882) who travelled in South America studying fauna and flora.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hofecker
Among Census respondents with the surname Hofecker, the largest self-reported group is White at 100.0%.
The bar chart below shows how Hofecker 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 Hofecker surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White100.0% · 117
Timeline
Historical Census data for Hofecker
Hofecker 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
#128,249
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 133
+24 bearers (+22.0%)
Per 100,000 0.05
Rank movement Up 12,507 places
2020
#144,270
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 117
-16 bearers (-12.0%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Down 16,021 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #140,756 | 109 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #128,249 | 133 | 0.05 | +24 bearers (+22.0%) | Up 12,507 places |
| 2020 | #144,270 | 117 | 0.04 | -16 bearers (-12.0%) | Down 16,021 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 Hofecker 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 | #128,249 | #144,270 | -12.5% |
| Count | 133 | 117 | -12.0% |
| Per 100K | 0.05 | 0.04 | -21.7% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Hofecker bearers went from 133 to 117 (-12.0% change). The surname moved down 16,021 positions in the national ranking, going from #128,249 to #144,270.
FAQ
Hofecker surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Hofecker?
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the surname Hofecker. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,557,868 residents.
How common is Hofecker?
Hofecker ranks #144,270 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 117 people with the surname Hofecker. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (134), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Hofecker.
Has Hofecker become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Hofecker went from 133 recorded bearers to 117. That is a decrease of 16 (-12.0%). In the national ranking it fell from #128,249 to #144,270.
What does the Census say about the background of Hofecker?
Among Census respondents with the surname Hofecker, the largest self-reported group is White at 100.0%. 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 Hofecker in the 2020 Census, accounting for 100.0% (117 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Hofecker appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (100.0%). 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 Hofecker (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 Hofecker mean?
A German surname derived from farming vocabulary, meaning "one who tends to a farmyard or court". 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 Hofecker (0.04 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 Hofecker?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans have the surname Hofecker at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.