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

Otterbeck, 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 Otterbeck surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Otterbeck in America

Otterbeck is the 120901st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Otterbeck surname appeared 143 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 Otterbeck.

We can also compare 2010 data for Otterbeck 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 Otterbeck

The surname Otterbeck has its origins in Germany, specifically in the northern regions near the coast of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. It emerged during the medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century. The name is believed to be derived from the Old German words "Otter" meaning otter, and "beck" meaning a small stream or brook, suggesting that it may have originally referred to a location where otters were found near a small body of water.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Otterbeck can be found in the Hanseatic League records from the city of Bremen in the late 14th century, where a merchant named Hans Otterbeck is mentioned as trading in Baltic goods. Another early reference is found in a 1412 document from the town of Lübeck, which mentions a landowner named Gerhard Otterbeck.

In the 16th century, the name appears in various church records and tax rolls in the northern German states of Mecklenburg and Holstein. One notable bearer of the name from this period was Johann Otterbeck (1521-1593), a Lutheran pastor and theologian who served in the town of Wismar.

As the surname spread across Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries, it also appeared in various spellings, such as Otterbek, Otterbecke, and Otterbeek, reflecting regional variations in pronunciation and spelling conventions.

In the 19th century, the name Otterbeck gained some prominence with the birth of Gustav Otterbeck (1819-1882), a German painter and illustrator known for his landscapes and genre scenes depicting rural life in northern Germany.

Another notable bearer of the name was Karl Otterbeck (1860-1932), a German engineer and industrialist who played a significant role in the development of the early automotive industry in Germany, working for companies like Daimler and Opel.

As the name spread beyond Germany through immigration, it also took root in other parts of Europe and the Americas. One example is the Dutch-American philosopher and educator Nicholas M. Otterbeck (1903-1979), who taught at several universities in the United States and authored several books on philosophy and education.

These are just a few examples of the historical presence and bearers of the surname Otterbeck, which has its roots in the northern German regions and reflects a connection to the natural world, specifically the otter and small streams.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Otterbeck

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

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

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

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