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

Raabe, 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 Raabe surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Raabe in America

Raabe is the 15663rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Raabe surname appeared 1,864 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 Raabe.

We can also compare 2010 data for Raabe 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 Raabe

The surname Raabe has its origins in Germany, dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from the German word "Rabe," which means "raven" in English. The name likely originated as a nickname or descriptive name for someone who resembled a raven or had dark hair or complexion.

In the early 13th century, the name Raabe appeared in various historical records, such as the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of documents from the Kingdom of Saxony. It was recorded as "Rabe" or "Raben" in these early manuscripts.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Raabe can be found in the Deutsches Städtebuch, a collection of medieval city records from Germany. In this book, a person named Henricus Rabe is mentioned as a resident of the city of Lübeck in the year 1320.

The name Raabe has also been associated with several place names in Germany, such as Rabenau and Rabenstein. These locations may have influenced the spelling and pronunciation of the surname over time.

Notable individuals with the surname Raabe throughout history include:

1. Wilhelm Raabe (1831-1910), a renowned German novelist and short story writer, considered one of the foremost representatives of the poetic realism movement in 19th-century German literature.

2. Johann Leonhard Raabe (1717-1772), a German jurist and historian who served as a professor of law at the University of Helmstedt.

3. Peter Raabe (1872-1945), a German painter and illustrator known for his landscapes and portraits.

4. Max Raabe (born 1962), a German singer and bandleader, famous for his interpretations of songs from the 1920s and 1930s in the style of the Comedian Harmonists.

5. Paul Raabe (1927-2013), a German librarian and scholar who served as the director of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, one of the most significant libraries in Germany.

While the surname Raabe has its roots in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world through migration and immigration. However, its origins can be traced back to the medieval period, when it emerged as a descriptive name or nickname in German-speaking regions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Raabe

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

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

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

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