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

Kreis, 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 Kreis surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kreis in America

Kreis is the 16385th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kreis surname appeared 1,757 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 Kreis.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kreis 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 Kreis

The surname Kreis originated in Germany and can be traced back to the 13th century. It is derived from the German word "Kreis," which means "circle" or "district." The name was likely initially given to someone who lived within a particular administrative district or circle.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Kreis can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis, a collection of historical documents from the Margraviate of Brandenburg, dating back to the 14th century. In this record, a certain "Henricus de Kreys" is mentioned.

During the Middle Ages, the Kreis surname was prevalent in various regions of Germany, particularly in the areas around Saxony, Thuringia, and Bavaria. Some notable individuals with this surname from this period include Johannes Kreis, a scribe and monk who lived in the late 15th century, and Hans Kreis, a merchant and landowner from Nuremberg in the early 16th century.

As the name spread throughout Germany, variations in spelling occurred, such as Kreiss, Kreyss, and Kreyß. These variations were often influenced by local dialects and scribal preferences.

In the 17th century, a notable figure bearing the Kreis surname was Johann Philipp Kreis, a German composer and organist born in 1653. He was renowned for his contributions to the development of Protestant church music.

Another prominent individual with this surname was Georg Ludwig Kreis, a German mathematician and astronomer born in 1784. He made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.

In the 19th century, Karl Friedrich Kreis, a German artist and lithographer born in 1825, gained recognition for his landscape paintings and lithographic works depicting scenes from the Black Forest region.

Throughout history, the Kreis surname has also been associated with various place names in Germany, such as Kreisau, Kreischa, and Kreisau-Kreisewitz, further emphasizing its connection to administrative districts or regions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kreis

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

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

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