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

Kissinger, 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 Kissinger surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kissinger in America

Kissinger is the 5390th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kissinger surname appeared 6,455 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Kissinger.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kissinger 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 Kissinger

The surname Kissinger is of German origin, derived from the German word "Küssinger," which means "people from Küssingen." Küssingen is a town in the district of Rhön-Grabfeld, Bavaria, Germany. The name likely emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, when surnames became more common in German-speaking regions.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kissinger can be found in the tax records of the city of Würzburg, Germany, dating back to the 15th century. These records mention a person named Hans Kissinger, who resided in the city during that time.

The name Kissinger is also found in various historical documents from the 16th and 17th centuries, including church records and municipal registries from towns and villages across Bavaria and other parts of southern Germany.

One notable person with the surname Kissinger was Johann Baptist Kissinger (1592-1657), a German Catholic theologian and philosopher who served as a professor at the University of Ingolstadt. He authored several works on theology and philosophy during his lifetime.

In the 18th century, the name Kissinger appeared in various genealogical records from the region around the town of Küssingen itself, as well as neighboring areas like Bad Kissingen and Hammelburg.

Another prominent figure with the surname Kissinger was Heinrich Kissinger (1832-1901), a German-born American industrialist and entrepreneur who founded the Kissinger Brick Company in St. Louis, Missouri, in the late 19th century.

Perhaps the most famous person with the surname Kissinger is Henry Alfred Kissinger (1923-present), the American diplomat and political scientist who served as the United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in the Vietnam War.

Other notable individuals with the Kissinger surname include Heinz Alfred Kissinger (1923-2017), a German-American engineer and inventor, and Walter Kissinger (1915-1996), a German-born American physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kissinger

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

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

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

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