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

Hornback, 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 Hornback surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hornback in America

Hornback is the 10998th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hornback surname appeared 2,892 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 Hornback.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hornback 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 Hornback

The surname Hornback originates from Germany, where it first appeared in the 16th century. The name is derived from the German words "Horn" meaning "horn" and "Bach" meaning "brook," suggesting the name may have originated from someone who lived near a winding stream or brook shaped like a horn.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Hornback name can be found in the Kirchenbücher (church records) of the village of Oberschefflenz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where a Hans Hornbach was listed as a resident in 1537. This early spelling variation, Hornbach, further reinforces the connection to the geographic features that likely inspired the surname.

The Hornback name is also found in the records of the nearby town of Mosbach, where a Michael Hornback was born in 1612. This suggests that the name had spread to other areas of the region by the early 17th century.

As the surname spread throughout Germany and into neighboring countries, variations in spelling emerged, such as Hornbacher, Hornbeck, and Hornbeck. One notable individual with this variant spelling was Johann Philipp Hornbeck (1626-1695), a German theologian and professor at the University of Helmstedt.

In the 18th century, the Hornback surname began to appear in records of German immigrants to North America. Johann Jacob Hornbeck, born in 1715 in Alsace, France (then part of Germany), was one of the earliest recorded instances of the name in the American colonies.

Other notable individuals with the Hornback surname include:

1. Johann Georg Hornbach (1737-1809), a German composer and organist.
2. Wilhelm Hornbach (1834-1896), a German politician and member of the Reichstag.
3. Johann Peter Hornback (1827-1897), a German-American farmer and soldier who fought in the American Civil War.
4. Friedrich Hornbach (1868-1936), a German architect known for his work in the Art Nouveau style.
5. Hans Hornbacher (1896-1979), a German artist and painter associated with the New Objectivity movement.

While the Hornback surname is not among the most common surnames globally, it maintains a strong connection to its German origins and the geographic features that inspired its creation centuries ago.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hornback

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

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

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

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