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

Keyser, 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 Keyser surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Keyser in America

Keyser is the 4446th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Keyser surname appeared 7,978 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Keyser.

We can also compare 2010 data for Keyser 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 Keyser

The surname Keyser is of German origin, derived from the German word "Keiser" meaning "emperor" or "caesar." The name first emerged during the medieval period, likely in the 12th or 13th century, and was originally used to identify individuals who worked for or had some association with the imperial court or the Holy Roman Empire.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Keyser can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from the German region of Saxony, which mentions a certain "Hermannus Keiser" in a document dated 1202. This suggests that the name was already in use by the early 13th century.

In the 14th century, the name Keyser appeared in various historical records across German-speaking regions, including the Annales Colonienses, a medieval chronicle from Cologne, which mentions a "Johannes Keyser" in an entry from 1376.

The name Keyser was also associated with certain place names, such as Keyserlingk, a village in what is now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, which was first mentioned in a document from 1350 as "Keyserlinge," likely referring to the presence of individuals bearing the Keyser surname in the area.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Keyser was Johann Keyser (c. 1520-1586), a German Protestant theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the Reformation in Saxony.

Another notable figure was Adriaen Keysers (c. 1560-1615), a Dutch engraver and printmaker who was active in Antwerp during the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

In the 18th century, Johann Georg Keyser (1693-1740) was a German architect and builder who worked in Saxony and designed several notable buildings, including the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

The 19th century saw the rise of Nicola Keyser (1835-1909), a German industrialist and founder of the Keyser'sche Maschinenbauanstalt, a leading manufacturer of industrial machinery based in Chemnitz, Saxony.

Lastly, Rudolf Keyser (1877-1946) was a German-American lawyer and judge who served as a justice on the New York Supreme Court and played a role in the prosecution of high-profile criminal cases in the early 20th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Keyser

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

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

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

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