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

Mosser, 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 Mosser surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Mosser in America

Mosser is the 12312th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Mosser surname appeared 2,525 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 Mosser.

We can also compare 2010 data for Mosser 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 Mosser

The surname Mosser originated in the German-speaking regions of present-day Switzerland, particularly in the areas around the town of Mossau (now Möhlin) in the canton of Aargau. The name is believed to derive from the Middle High German word "mose," meaning "marsh" or "swamp," suggesting that the earliest bearers of the name may have lived near or worked in marshy areas.

Records of the name can be traced back to the 13th century, with mentions of individuals bearing variations such as Moser, Mosser, and Mossere in various Swiss and German documents. One of the earliest recorded instances is in a document from 1275, which mentions a certain "Heinricus dictus Moser" in the city of Basel.

The Mosser surname also appears in the Codex Manesse, a famous medieval German manuscript from the early 14th century, which contains a collection of poetry by various authors, including works by a poet named "Moser von Esslingen."

In the 15th century, the name is found in connection with several places in Switzerland, such as Mosseren (now Möhren) in the canton of Bern, and Mossacker, a village near Mossau. These place names likely influenced the spelling and pronunciation of the surname in different regions.

One notable bearer of the Mosser name was Hans Mosser (c. 1490-1552), a Swiss Protestant Reformer and theologian from the town of Mossau. He played a significant role in the spread of the Reformation in Switzerland and was a close associate of Huldrych Zwingli, the leader of the Swiss Reformation.

Another prominent figure was Johann Caspar Mosser (1676-1756), a Swiss-born mathematician and astronomer who worked at the University of Leipzig in Germany. He made important contributions to the fields of celestial mechanics and navigation.

In the 19th century, a family of Mossers from Switzerland emigrated to the United States, settling in Pennsylvania. One of their descendants, Jacob Mosser (1828-1910), became a prominent businessman and philanthropist in the city of Reading, Pennsylvania.

Other notable individuals with the Mosser surname include Max Mosser (1887-1970), an Austrian painter and printmaker known for his landscape and genre scenes, and Walter Mosser (1907-1985), a Swiss architect and urban planner who designed several notable buildings in Zurich.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Mosser

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

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

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