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

Kraft, 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 Kraft surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kraft in America

Kraft is the 1635th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kraft surname appeared 22,035 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Kraft.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kraft 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 Kraft

The surname KRAFT has its origins in Germany, where it first emerged in the 12th century. The name is derived from the German word "kraft," which means "strength" or "power." It was likely adopted as a descriptive nickname for someone who possessed great physical or mental fortitude.

In its earliest recorded instances, the name appeared in various medieval manuscripts and records across central and southern Germany. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Heinrich Kraft, a landowner and knight who lived in the region of Swabia in the late 13th century.

The KRAFT name gained prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly in the cities of Nuremberg and Augsburg, where several notable families bearing the name emerged. Johann Kraft, a merchant and banker in Nuremberg (1390-1457), was one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of his time.

As the name spread throughout Germany and neighboring regions, it also evolved into various spellings and regional variations, such as Krafft, Crafft, and Krafft. One notable bearer of the name was the German Renaissance artist and printmaker Albrecht Dürer, whose mother's maiden name was Kraft (1471-1528).

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the KRAFT name continued to be well-represented among German craftsmen, artisans, and tradesmen. Johann Georg Kraft, a renowned organ builder from Saxony (1697-1753), was responsible for constructing several important church organs in Germany and neighboring countries.

As Germans migrated to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas, the KRAFT name traveled with them. In the United States, one of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Johann Caspar Kraft, a German immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania in the early 18th century.

Throughout its history, the KRAFT surname has been borne by numerous notable individuals, including the German philosopher and writer Max Kraft (1857-1937), the German physicist Wolfgang Kraft (1912-1997), and the American entrepreneur James L. Kraft (1874-1953), who founded the Kraft Foods Company.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kraft

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Kraft, 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!