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

Karnath, 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 Karnath surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Karnath in America

Karnath is the 104156th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Karnath surname appeared 172 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Karnath.

We can also compare 2010 data for Karnath 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 Karnath

The surname Karnath is believed to have originated in the German region of Bavaria, possibly as early as the 12th century. It is thought to be derived from the Old High German words "karn" meaning "warrior" or "brave one" and "ath" meaning "oath" or "pledge". This suggests the name may have originally referred to a sworn warrior or someone who had taken a sacred vow.

Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in medieval German records and manuscripts. For example, a Konrad Karnath is mentioned in a 1327 document from the town of Regensburg. There are also references to a Hainrich Karnath in a 1416 text from the city of Nuremberg.

In the 16th century, the name appears to have spread to other parts of Germany, as well as neighboring regions like Austria and Switzerland. A notable bearer was Hans Karnath, a Protestant reformer and pamphleteer born in Ulm around 1520.

During the 1600s and 1700s, several Karnath families were recorded in church registers and tax records across southern Germany. This includes Johannes Karnath (1632-1698), a master woodcarver from the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

As the name continued to disperse over the centuries, spelling variations like Karnat, Karnaht, and Karnathen emerged. Some of these may have derived from the incorporation of old Germanic place names ending in "-ath" or "-athen".

Notable modern bearers of the Karnath name include the German writer and historian Erich Karnath (1901-1979), as well as the Austrian alpine skier Josef Karnath (1933-2006), who competed in the 1956 and 1960 Winter Olympics.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Karnath

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

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

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

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