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

Kroger, 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 Kroger surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kroger in America

Kroger is the 16376th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kroger surname appeared 1,758 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 Kroger.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kroger 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 Kroger

The surname Kroger originated in Germany, where it first appeared in the late Middle Ages, around the 13th or 14th century. It is derived from the German word "Krug," which means a jug or a pitcher, and was likely an occupational name given to someone who made or sold jugs or pottery.

Kroger is a variant spelling of the German name Kruger, which has a similar origin. The earliest recorded instances of the name Kroger can be found in various German city records and tax rolls from the 14th and 15th centuries.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Kroger was Hans Kroger, a potter from the town of Nuremberg, who was mentioned in a guild record from 1427. Another early bearer of the name was Konrad Kroger, a merchant from Hamburg, who was recorded in a trade document from 1489.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, as the Kroger family spread across different regions of Germany, the name took on various local spellings, such as Krüger, Krüeger, and Krueger. Some of these variations were also adopted by families who immigrated to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas.

One notable individual with the surname Kroger was Johann Kroger (1598-1659), a German Lutheran clergyman and theologian who served as the rector of the University of Leipzig. Another was Johann Tobias Kroger (1670-1737), a German composer and organist who was known for his church music.

In the 19th century, the Kroger name gained prominence in the United States with the success of Barney Kroger (1860-1938), a German immigrant who founded the Kroger grocery chain in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company, which began as a single grocery store, grew to become one of the largest supermarket chains in the country.

Other notable individuals with the surname Kroger include Hans Kruger (1899-1993), a German-born American architect who designed several iconic buildings in New York City, and Theodor Kruger (1888-1957), a German physicist who made significant contributions to the field of spectroscopy.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kroger

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

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

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

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