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

Hopper, 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 Hopper surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hopper in America

Hopper is the 1281st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hopper surname appeared 27,353 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 9 people would have the surname Hopper.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hopper 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 Hopper

The surname Hopper is of English origin, deriving from the occupational name for a maker or trader of hops, the plant used in brewing beer. The name dates back to the late 13th century, with the earliest known record being a Ralph le Hoppere listed in the Norfolk Hundred Rolls of 1275.

Hopper is believed to have originated from the Old English pre 7th Century word "hopp" or the Middle English "hopper", both referring to the hop plant. Variations in early spellings included Hoppere, Hopper, and Hoppar. The name was particularly prevalent in areas known for hop cultivation and brewing, such as Kent, Sussex, and the West Country regions of England.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, there are no direct references to the surname Hopper, but there are several mentions of places with names derived from the word "hop", suggesting the plant's importance in medieval England. One example is the village of Hoppesford in Hampshire, recorded as "Hopesforde" in the Domesday survey.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Hopper was John Hopper, a vintner (wine merchant) from London, who is mentioned in records from the 1390s. In the 15th century, Robert Hopper was a prominent merchant and alderman in the city of Norwich, serving as Mayor in 1452.

During the English Reformation, Edmund Hopper (c. 1500-1555) was a Catholic martyr who was executed for his religious beliefs under the reign of Queen Mary I. Another notable figure was Jeremiah Hopper (1717-1805), an American soldier who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

In the field of science, Grace Hopper (1906-1992) was a pioneering American computer scientist and naval officer. She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer and is credited with coining the term "debugging" in reference to computer programming.

Other well-known individuals with the surname Hopper include Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the renowned American realist painter known for his iconic works depicting urban scenes and landscapes, and Dennis Hopper (1936-2010), the acclaimed American actor, filmmaker, and artist associated with the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hopper

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

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

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