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

Rohrbach, 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 Rohrbach surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rohrbach in America

Rohrbach is the 11226th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rohrbach surname appeared 2,816 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 Rohrbach.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rohrbach 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 Rohrbach

The surname Rohrbach can be traced back to Germany, where it originated as a toponymic or habitational name for someone who lived near a stream or brook. The name is derived from the Middle High German words "ror," meaning reed or rush, and "bach," meaning brook or stream. It likely referred to a waterway overgrown with reeds or rushes.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Rohrbach date back to the 13th century in various regions of Germany, including Bavaria, Saxony, and the Rhineland. In some areas, the name was also spelled as Rorbach, Rohrpach, or Rohrpach, reflecting regional variations in dialect and pronunciation.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Johannes Rohrbach, a burgher (citizen) of the city of Nuremberg in the 14th century. Records from the Holy Roman Empire mention a Hans Rohrbach, a landowner in the village of Rohrbach near Heidelberg, in the late 15th century.

In the 16th century, the Rohrbach name appeared in various legal and ecclesiastical documents across Germany. Notable examples include Matthias Rohrbach, a Lutheran pastor and theologian from Saxony (1521-1592), and Caspar Rohrbach, a merchant and town councilor in Augsburg (1543-1612).

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Rohrbach surname continued to spread throughout German-speaking regions, with several individuals achieving prominence in various fields. For instance, Johann Friedrich Rohrbach (1675-1736) was a renowned jurist and legal scholar from Frankfurt, while Johann Christoph Rohrbach (1722-1792) was a respected theologian and author from Württemberg.

In the 19th century, notable bearers of the name included Karl Rohrbach (1805-1868), a German architect and urban planner who designed several iconic buildings in Berlin, and Paul Rohrbach (1869-1956), a German politician and publicist who advocated for colonial expansion and played a significant role in shaping German foreign policy during the early 20th century.

While the Rohrbach name has its origins in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world through emigration, particularly to North America and other European countries. However, the surname remains most prevalent in German-speaking regions and among those of German ancestry.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rohrbach

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

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

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

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