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

Kliewer, 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 Kliewer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kliewer in America

Kliewer is the 17268th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kliewer surname appeared 1,640 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Kliewer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kliewer 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 Kliewer

The surname Kliewer has its origins in the Low German or Plattdeutsch language spoken in northern Germany and the Netherlands. It is derived from the word "Kliever," which means "cleaver" or "wedge." This suggests that the name may have originally been an occupational surname for someone who worked with wedges or cleavers, possibly in professions such as woodcutting or carpentry.

The earliest recorded instances of the Kliewer name date back to the 16th century in the Prussian region of Germany, particularly in the area around the city of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). The earliest known bearer of the name was Hans Kliewer, who was mentioned in church records from the village of Tiegenhof near Danzig in 1567.

In the 17th century, many Kliewer families migrated from Prussia to the Russian Empire, where they settled in the Mennonite colonies of southern Ukraine and the Volga region. This was part of a larger migration of Mennonites from Prussia to Russia, seeking religious freedom and new agricultural opportunities.

One notable Kliewer from this period was Gerhard Kliewer (1690-1755), a Prussian-born Mennonite minister and leader who helped establish the Mennonite colony of Chortitza in present-day Ukraine in 1789.

As the Mennonite communities in Russia faced increasing persecution in the late 19th century, many Kliewer families emigrated again, this time to North America. They settled in various regions, including Manitoba, Canada, and the Great Plains states of the United States, such as Kansas, Nebraska, and North Dakota.

Among the prominent Kliewer individuals in North America was Jacob W. Kliewer (1863-1944), a Mennonite teacher, writer, and editor from Ukraine who settled in Hillsboro, Kansas, and played a significant role in the Mennonite educational system in the region.

Another notable figure was Delmar Kliewer (1901-1977), an American Mennonite minister and author from Newton, Kansas, who wrote extensively on Mennonite history and theology.

In the 20th century, the Kliewer name also gained recognition in the field of academia, with individuals like Dorothy Kliewer (1920-2003), an American psychologist and professor at the University of Southern California, and Heinz Kliewer (1921-2005), a German-American chemist and professor at the University of Idaho.

Overall, the surname Kliewer has a rich history spanning several centuries and continents, reflecting the migrations and resilience of the Mennonite communities that carried this name from its origins in Prussia to its eventual establishment in various parts of North America.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kliewer

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!