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

Hofmeister, 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 Hofmeister surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hofmeister in America

Hofmeister is the 12861st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hofmeister surname appeared 2,394 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 Hofmeister.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hofmeister 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 Hofmeister

The surname Hofmeister originated in Germany, with its earliest known records dating back to the late Middle Ages. It is derived from the German words "hof," meaning "court" or "farm," and "meister," meaning "master" or "overseer." This suggests that the name was initially given to someone who was in charge of a court or a large agricultural estate.

One of the earliest mentions of the Hofmeister name can be found in the historical records of the city of Nuremberg, where a certain Konrad Hofmeister is listed as a prominent citizen in the 14th century. The name also appears in several medieval manuscripts from various German regions, indicating its widespread use during that period.

In the 16th century, a prominent figure named Johann Hofmeister (1491-1559) was a Lutheran theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation. He served as a court preacher in Saxony and was known for his influential writings on theology and church governance.

Another notable bearer of the Hofmeister surname was Friedrich Hofmeister (1782-1864), a German botanist and naturalist. He made important contributions to the study of plant morphology and is credited with developing the concept of alternation of generations in plant life cycles.

In the 19th century, Wilhelm Hofmeister (1824-1877) was a German legal scholar and politician who served as the Minister of Justice for the Kingdom of Prussia. He played a crucial role in the legal reforms and the unification of German law during the period of the German Empire.

The Hofmeister name has also been associated with various place names in Germany, such as Hofmeisterhaus, a historical building in the town of Quedlinburg, and Hofmeisterei, a former administrative district in the region of Saxony-Anhalt.

While the Hofmeister surname can be found in various parts of Germany, it is particularly prevalent in the regions of Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia, where many families with this name have lived for generations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hofmeister

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Hofmeister, 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!