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

Kurzweil, 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 Kurzweil surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kurzweil in America

Kurzweil is the 56310th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kurzweil surname appeared 363 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Kurzweil.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kurzweil 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 Kurzweil

The surname Kurzweil is of German origin, derived from the Middle High German words "kurz" meaning "short" and "wil" meaning "will" or "desire". It likely originated in the German-speaking regions of Central Europe during the medieval period, referring to someone of short stature or a person with a strong but fleeting desire.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Kurzweil can be found in the Rottweil town records from the 15th century, where a Hans Kurzweil is listed as a resident. The name also appears in various other historical documents from the region, such as church records and tax rolls from the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the 18th century, a notable individual with the surname Kurzweil was Johann Philipp Kurzweil (1713-1798), a German composer and organist who served as the court musician in the principality of Ansbach. His works include several organ concertos and other compositions for church and secular occasions.

During the 19th century, the Kurzweil surname became more widespread across German-speaking regions, with individuals bearing the name found in various occupations and professions. One such person was Wilhelm Kurzweil (1828-1899), a German architect who designed several notable buildings in the city of Stuttgart, including the Kunstgebäude (Art Building) and the former Stuttgart Stadtgarten (City Gardens).

In the early 20th century, the name Kurzweil gained some prominence in the field of education with the work of Konrad Kurzweil (1877-1948), a German educator and author who specialized in pedagogical theory and methods. He wrote several influential books on teaching and learning, including "Die Grundlagen der Lehrerbildung" (The Foundations of Teacher Education).

Another notable figure with the Kurzweil surname was Hans Kurzweil (1912-1983), an Austrian-born American businessman and entrepreneur. He founded the Kurzweil Computer Products company, which pioneered the development of optical character recognition (OCR) technology and reading machines for the visually impaired.

Throughout its history, the surname Kurzweil has been found in various regions of Germany, Austria, and other German-speaking areas, with individuals bearing the name contributing to various fields, including music, architecture, education, and technology.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kurzweil

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

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

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