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

Pape, 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 Pape surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pape in America

Pape is the 5477th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pape surname appeared 6,350 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Pape.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pape 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 Pape

The surname Pape has its origins in medieval Germany, specifically in the northern regions. It is derived from the Middle Low German word "pape," which means "priest" or "cleric." This suggests that the name was originally an occupational surname given to individuals who served as priests or clerics in the Catholic Church.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Pape surname dates back to the 13th century, where it appears in the Bremisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of historical documents from the city of Bremen. The name is also found in other medieval records from various regions of northern Germany, such as the Lübecker Oberstadtbuch from the 14th century.

The Pape surname has connections to several place names, particularly in areas where the name was prevalent. For instance, the village of Papenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany, is believed to have derived its name from individuals with the Pape surname who lived there or were associated with the area.

Notable historical figures with the Pape surname include Johann Pape (1506-1570), a German Protestant theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the Reformation movement. Another notable bearer of the name was Christoph Friedrich Pape (1788-1862), a German classical scholar and lexicographer known for his contributions to the study of ancient Greek literature.

In the 16th century, the Pape surname also appeared in the records of the Hanseatic League, a powerful commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. This suggests that individuals with the Pape surname were involved in trade and commerce during that period.

Other notable figures with the Pape surname include Johann Ernst Pape (1776-1853), a German philologist and educator who wrote extensively on ancient Greek literature, and Wilhelm Pape (1807-1854), a German classical scholar and author of the influential "Handwörterbuch der griechischen Sprache" (Handbook of the Greek Language).

Throughout its history, the Pape surname has undergone various spelling variations, such as Papen, Pappen, and Pape, reflecting regional linguistic differences and the evolution of the German language over time.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pape

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

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

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

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