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

Rickert, 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 Rickert surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rickert in America

Rickert is the 6232nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rickert surname appeared 5,483 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 Rickert.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rickert 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 Rickert

The surname Rickert has its origins in Germany and dates back to the late medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the Germanic personal name Richart, which itself came from the elements 'ric' meaning power or rule and 'hart' meaning hardy or brave. This suggests the name may have originally referred to someone of a powerful or courageous disposition.

Early variations of the spelling included Richart, Rickehart, and Rickhard before eventually evolving into the modern form of Rickert. The name is thought to have first appeared in official records in the 13th century, with one of the earliest known bearers being Heinrich Rickert, a merchant from Nuremberg mentioned in a document dated 1287.

In the 14th century, the name can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of historical documents from the region of modern-day Poland. An entry from 1349 refers to a Nicolaus Rickert, a landowner in the town of Thorn (now Torun).

As the name spread across German-speaking lands, it also took on localized spellings, such as Rikkert in the Low German dialects of northern Germany and the Netherlands. One notable bearer was the Dutch philosopher and historian Johan Rikkert (1670-1748), renowned for his works on the history of the Dutch Republic.

Another distinguished individual with this surname was the German philosopher and neo-Kantian thinker Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936). He was a prominent figure in the Baden School of philosophy and made significant contributions to the field of value theory.

In the 19th century, the Rickert name found its way to the United States through German immigration. One of the earliest recorded Americans with this surname was Johann Rickert (1799-1876), a farmer and vintner who settled in Missouri after emigrating from Bavaria in the 1840s.

Other notable individuals include the American painter and printmaker Edith Rickert (1871-1938), known for her landscapes and portraits, and the British historian and academic Thomas Rickert (1864-1941), who specialized in the study of medieval literature and was a respected scholar of Chaucer's works.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rickert

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

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

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

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