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

Lichter, 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 Lichter surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lichter in America

Lichter is the 20468th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lichter surname appeared 1,297 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 Lichter.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lichter 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 Lichter

The surname Lichter is believed to have originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. Its roots can be traced back to the Old High German word "lioht," which means "light" or "bright." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near a clearing or open area, or perhaps someone with a fair complexion or light hair.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Lichter can be found in medieval German records and manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries. One notable example is a reference to a "Johannes Lichter" in a land registry from the town of Augsburg, dated around 1320.

In some regions of Germany, the name Lichter may have been derived from place names or geographic features related to light or brightness. For instance, there are several villages and towns with names like "Lichtenberg" or "Lichtenfels," which could have influenced the development of the surname.

Over the centuries, the name Lichter has been spelled in various ways, including "Lychter," "Lichtere," and "Lichtner." These variations reflect regional dialects and linguistic changes that occurred as the name spread across different parts of Germany and beyond.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Lichter was Johann Lichter, a 16th-century German scholar and theologian who lived from 1529 to 1599. Another notable figure was Hans Lichter, a prominent 17th-century German painter and engraver who was born in 1612 and died in 1680.

Other historical figures bearing the surname Lichter include:

1. Wilhelm Lichter (1800-1876), a German politician and member of the Frankfurt Parliament.
2. Margarethe Lichter (1824-1898), a German writer and feminist activist.
3. Otto Lichter (1880-1942), a German architect known for his work in Berlin.
4. Konrad Lichter (1901-1972), a German-born American artist and illustrator.
5. Erich Lichter (1929-1997), a German-born American physicist and academic.

While the surname Lichter may have started as a descriptive name related to light or brightness, it has since become a well-established family name with a rich history spanning multiple centuries and regions of Germany.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lichter

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

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

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