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

Horváth, 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 Horváth surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Horváth in America

Horváth is the 2379th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Horváth surname appeared 15,302 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 people would have the surname Horváth.

We can also compare 2010 data for Horváth 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 Horváth

The surname Horvath is of Hungarian origin, derived from the Slavic word "Hrvat" meaning "Croat." It is believed to have emerged in the 9th or 10th century during the Magyar migration into the Carpathian Basin.

The name Horvath initially referred to individuals of Croatian descent who settled in the Kingdom of Hungary. The earliest known record of the name dates back to 1138, when it appeared in the Várad Regestrum, an ancient Hungarian manuscript.

In the 13th century, the Horvath family was among the noble families that received land grants from King Béla IV of Hungary for their military service against the Mongol invasion. This suggests the name's association with nobility and military prowess during that era.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Horvath was Gergely Horvath (1490-1552), a Hungarian Catholic cleric and historian who served as the Bishop of Veszprém. His most famous work, "Rerum Hungaricarum Decades," chronicled the history of Hungary from the 10th to the 16th century.

Another prominent figure was Mihály Horvath (1809-1878), a Hungarian lawyer, politician, and historian who served as the Minister of Religion and Education in the Hungarian Revolutionary Government of 1848-1849. He is renowned for his monumental work, "A History of Hungary," which covered the period from the Magyar conquest to the 19th century.

In the 18th century, the Horvath family played a significant role in the development of modern Croatian literature. Andrija Kačić Miošić (1690-1760), a Catholic friar and poet, wrote the famous epic poem "Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga" (Pleasant Conversation of the Slavic People), which helped preserve and popularize Croatian folk traditions and legends.

Another notable figure was Ödön Horvath (1835-1901), a Hungarian engineer and inventor who developed the first modern electric motor capable of producing a rotary motion. His contributions were instrumental in the early development of electrical engineering and the widespread use of electric motors.

During the 20th century, Zoltán Horvath (1900-1966) was a renowned Hungarian filmmaker and screenwriter who directed several classic films, including "Ének a búzamezőkről" (Song of the Cornfields) and "Valamit visz a víz" (The River Carries Along), which explored the lives of ordinary Hungarians and rural communities.

While the surname Horvath has its roots in Hungary and Croatia, it has since spread worldwide, with descendants found in various countries, particularly those with significant Hungarian and Croatian diaspora communities.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Horváth

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

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

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

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