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

Koch, 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 Koch surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Koch in America

Koch is the 698th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Koch surname appeared 49,395 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 17 people would have the surname Koch.

We can also compare 2010 data for Koch 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 Koch

The surname Koch has its origins in Germany and Switzerland, where it first emerged in the 14th century. The name is derived from the German word "Koch," meaning "cook" or "chef." It likely originated as an occupational surname for individuals who worked as cooks or chefs, either in private households or in public establishments.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in various German and Swiss records from the late Middle Ages. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Johann Koch, a cook mentioned in a document from the city of Nuremberg in 1349.

In the 15th century, the name began to appear in various regional variations, such as Koche, Kochin, and Kochenmeister, reflecting the different dialects and spellings used in different parts of Germany and Switzerland.

One notable early bearer of the name was Hans Koch, a German painter and sculptor who lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. His works can be found in several churches and museums throughout Germany.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Koch surname became more widespread as people with this occupation moved from one region to another. In some cases, the name was also adopted by individuals who did not necessarily work as cooks but may have had ancestors who did.

In the 18th century, the Koch family produced several notable figures, including Johann Koch, a German mathematician and astronomer born in 1716, and Johann Friedrich Koch, a German theologian and writer born in 1759.

As the surname spread beyond its original regions, it was also adopted in other parts of Europe and eventually in other parts of the world through immigration. Some notable bearers of the name in the 19th and early 20th centuries include Robert Koch, the German physician and microbiologist who discovered the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and cholera, and Thomas Mann, the German novelist and Nobel Prize laureate in Literature.

Throughout its history, the Koch surname has been associated with various place names, such as Kochendorf and Kochenheim, which likely derived from the surname itself or from similar occupational names.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Koch

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

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

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

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