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

Osthoff, 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 Osthoff surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Osthoff in America

Osthoff is the 70833rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Osthoff surname appeared 276 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 Osthoff.

We can also compare 2010 data for Osthoff 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 Osthoff

The surname Osthoff originated in Germany, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 14th century. It is believed to be a locational name derived from the village of Osthofen, located in the Alzey-Worms district of Rhineland-Palatinate. The name is thought to come from the Old High German words "ost" meaning "east" and "hof" meaning "court" or "farmstead," referring to a courtyard or farmstead situated to the east of a particular location.

One of the earliest known references to the name Osthoff can be found in the records of the Benedictine monastery in Seligenstadt, Hesse, where a certain Sigeloch Osthoff is mentioned in a document dating back to 1351. This suggests that the Osthoff family had already established itself in the region by the mid-14th century.

In the 15th century, the name appears in various municipal records and chronicles, such as the Heidelberg Tax Register of 1450, which lists several individuals with the surname Osthoff residing in the city at that time. During this period, the name was also occasionally spelled as "Osthofen" or "Osthouer," reflecting its locational origins.

One notable individual bearing the surname Osthoff was Johann Wilhelm Osthoff (1744-1823), a German Protestant theologian and philosopher who served as a professor at the University of Marburg. Another was Ernst Osthoff (1830-1899), a German philologist and linguist who made significant contributions to the field of historical linguistics, particularly in the study of Germanic languages.

Other noteworthy individuals with the surname Osthoff include Nikolaus Osthoff (1807-1878), a German painter and engraver known for his landscapes and architectural works, and Hermann Osthoff (1847-1909), a German linguist and co-author of the influential work "Morphological Investigations in the Field of Indo-European Languages" (1878), which played a crucial role in the development of the Neogrammarian movement in linguistics.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Osthoff family spread beyond Germany, with members emigrating to various parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and South America. However, the name's origins and historical significance remain firmly rooted in its German heritage and the locational name from the village of Osthofen.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Osthoff

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

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

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

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