Neifer last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Neifer

A variant spelling of the German surname Neuffer, which referred to a newcomer or recent arrival.

Neifer, 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 Neifer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Neifer in America

Neifer is the 145220th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Neifer surname appeared 114 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 Neifer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Neifer 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.

20102000Change (%)
Rank1452201367835.98%
Count1141130.88%
Proportion per 100k0.040.040.00%

The history of the last name Neifer

The surname NEIFER has its origins in Germany, with the earliest records dating back to the 16th century. It is believed to have originated from the German word "neuer," which means "new." This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who was a newcomer or a settler in a particular region.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name NEIFER can be found in the town records of Augsburg, a city in Bavaria, Germany. In 1572, a person by the name of Hans NEIFER is mentioned as a resident of the town. It's possible that this individual or his ancestors may have been among the first to bear this surname.

The name NEIFER also appears in various historical documents from the 17th and 18th centuries. For example, in 1687, a Johannes NEIFER is recorded as a landowner in the village of Niederkirchen, near Kaiserslautern, in the Palatinate region of Germany. This region was known for its agricultural communities, and the NEIFER family may have been involved in farming or related activities.

In the 19th century, the name NEIFER began to spread beyond Germany. One notable individual with this surname was Wilhelm NEIFER, a German-American artist born in 1842 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He is known for his landscape paintings and was active in the United States, where he lived and worked for several years.

Another notable NEIFER was Karl NEIFER, a German politician and lawyer who lived from 1869 to 1939. He served as a member of the Reichstag (the German parliament) during the Weimar Republic and was involved in various legal and political initiatives of his time.

In the early 20th century, a family with the surname NEIFER emigrated from Germany to Australia. One of their descendants, Heinrich NEIFER, born in 1912, became a prominent figure in the Australian agricultural industry, establishing a successful farming enterprise and contributing to the development of sustainable farming practices.

The NEIFER name can also be found in historical records from other parts of Europe, such as Switzerland and Austria, suggesting that the name may have spread beyond Germany over time. However, the majority of the early references and notable individuals with this surname seem to have originated in Germany.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Neifer

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

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 Neifer was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only95.61%109
Non-Hispanic Black Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only0.00%0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races(S)%(S)
Hispanic Origin0.00%0

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 Neifer has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

20102000Change (%)
White95.61%99.12%-3.60%
Black(S)%(S)%(S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander0.00%0.00%0.00%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0.00%0.00%
Two or More Races(S)%0.00%(S)%
Hispanic0.00%(S)%(S)%

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

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

Search for a name

Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.

Simple as that.

Search
Search
Background shape