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

Ratzlaff, 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 Ratzlaff surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ratzlaff in America

Ratzlaff is the 12519th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ratzlaff surname appeared 2,476 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 Ratzlaff.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ratzlaff 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 Ratzlaff

The surname Ratzlaff originated in the early 13th century in the region of Pomerania, an area that is now part of northern Germany and western Poland. It likely derives from the Old Prussian words "ratz" meaning rat and "laf" meaning field, suggesting the name may have been given to someone who lived or worked in a rat-infested field.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name can be found in the Pomeranian Duchy Records of 1275, which lists a Jacob Ratzlaff as a landowner in the village of Kolberg. The spelling at the time was "Ratzelaf". Over the centuries, variations such as Ratzloff, Ratzlav, and Ratzleff emerged in different areas.

In the late 15th century, the Ratzlaff name appeared in various church records and tax rolls in the town of Stettin, now part of modern-day Poland. A notable figure from this time was Hans Ratzlaff, a merchant and alderman who lived between 1470 and 1535.

As the Ratzlaff family spread throughout the region, some branches adopted variants like Ratzlawski or Ratzlawitzki, reflecting the influence of Polish and Slavic naming conventions. In the 17th century, a line of Ratzlaffs settled in the Prussian village of Marienburg, where records show a Johannes Ratzlaff born in 1632.

During the 18th century, members of the Ratzlaff family emigrated to other parts of Europe and Russia. One notable figure was Carl Friedrich Ratzlaff (1779-1842), a German-Russian colonist and farmer who helped establish the village of Ratzlawka near Odessa.

As the 19th century progressed, many Ratzlaffs left Europe for North America, settling in areas with existing German and Russian-German communities. Johann Ratzlaff (1820-1892), a blacksmith from Prussia, was one of the first to arrive in Canada in the 1870s, establishing a homestead in Manitoba.

Other notable individuals with the Ratzlaff surname include German-American artist Heinz Ratzlaff (1897-1979), known for his abstract expressionist paintings, and Canadian author Brenda Ratzlaff (born 1947), who has written several novels and children's books.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ratzlaff

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

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

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

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