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

Kiefer, 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 Kiefer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kiefer in America

Kiefer is the 3240th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kiefer surname appeared 11,141 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Kiefer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kiefer 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 Kiefer

The surname Kiefer originates from the German language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages in Germany. It is derived from the German word "Kiefern," which means "pine trees." This suggests that the name was likely given to someone who lived near or worked with pine trees, such as a forester or woodcutter.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kiefer can be found in the Deutsches Familiennamen-Lexikon (German Family Names Lexicon) from the 14th century, where it is mentioned as a surname in the region of Bavaria. The name was also found in other parts of Germany, such as Württemberg and Saxony.

In the 16th century, the surname Kiefer appeared in various historical records, including land registries and tax records. For example, Hans Kiefer was listed as a landowner in the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in 1562.

The name Kiefer has also been associated with several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest was Johann Kiefer (1616-1672), a German composer and organist who worked in the court of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg.

Another notable figure was Friedrich Kiefer (1785-1858), a German architect who designed several important buildings in Munich, including the Alte Pinakothek art museum.

In the 19th century, Otto Kiefer (1838-1920) was a German businessman and industrialist who founded a successful machine tool manufacturing company in Berlin.

Moving into the 20th century, Anselm Kiefer (born 1945) is a renowned German painter and sculptor whose works often explore themes of German history and mythology.

Finally, Hans Kiefer (1923-2010) was a German politician who served as a member of the Bundestag (German parliament) for several decades, representing the Christian Democratic Union party.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kiefer

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

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

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

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