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

Overholt, 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 Overholt surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Overholt in America

Overholt is the 10987th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Overholt surname appeared 2,894 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 Overholt.

We can also compare 2010 data for Overholt 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 Overholt

The surname Overholt originated in Germany in the early 16th century. It is derived from the German words "über" meaning "over" and "holz" meaning "wood" or "forest". The name likely referred to someone who lived near or beyond a wooded area.

Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in various German church and municipal records from the 1500s and 1600s. Variant spellings from this time period include Überholt, Überholt, and Overholdtz.

In the late 17th century, members of the Overholt family immigrated to Pennsylvania as part of the German and Swiss Mennonite migration to the Americas. One of the earliest known Overholts in America was Jacob Overholt, born around 1680 in Germany, who settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania in the late 1600s.

Overholts can also be found in some early American records, such as the 1790 census of Pennsylvania which lists several Overholt households. The name appears in various forms such as Overholt, Overholdt, and Overhault.

Notable individuals with the Overholt surname include:

1. Henry Overholt (1754-1831), a Pennsylvanian farmer and distiller who founded the Overholt Distillery in West Overton, Pennsylvania in 1810, one of the oldest continually operating distilleries in the United States.

2. Abraham Overholt (1784-1870), son of Henry Overholt and manager of the family distillery after his father's death. He helped establish the Overholt brand as a leading American whiskey.

3. Jacob S. Overholt (1810-1889), grandson of Henry Overholt and president of the A. Overholt & Co. distillery in the late 19th century.

4. Anton Overholt (1865-1948), an American baseball player who played in the major leagues in the late 19th century.

5. Henry Clay Overholt (1870-1964), an American businessman and executive at the Overholt Distillery Company in the early 20th century.

The Overholt name remains most closely associated with the historic Overholt Distillery and the family's influence on the American whiskey industry in Pennsylvania and the broader United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Overholt

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

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

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

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