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

Shults, 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 Shults surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shults in America

Shults is the 7975th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shults surname appeared 4,146 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 Shults.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shults 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 Shults

The surname Shults has its origins in Germany, where it is believed to have first emerged in the late 15th century. It is likely derived from the German word "Schultheiß," which referred to a local official or magistrate responsible for administering justice and collecting taxes in medieval times.

In its earliest recorded forms, the name appeared as "Schultheiss," "Schultze," and "Schultz" in various regions of Germany. These variations reflect the different dialects and spelling conventions of the time. The name eventually evolved into its modern form of "Shults" as it spread to other parts of Europe and beyond.

One of the earliest known records of the name dates back to 1495, when a man named Hans Schultheiß was mentioned in a legal document from the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria. Another notable early reference is found in the 1555 census records of the city of Nuremberg, which list several families with the surname Schultz or Schultze.

As the name spread across Europe, it also became associated with certain place names. For instance, the village of Schulzendorf in Brandenburg, Germany, is believed to have been named after an early settler with the surname Schulz or Schulze.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the surname Shults or its variants. One of the earliest was Johann Schultz (1594-1668), a German astronomer and mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of comets and planetary motion.

In the 19th century, Friedrich Schultze (1795-1865) was a prominent German chemist who developed several important industrial processes, including a method for producing nitrocellulose, a key component in the production of gunpowder and early plastics.

Another noteworthy figure was the American composer and music educator William Schultze (1903-1964), who was known for his choral works and served as the director of the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts.

In more recent times, the name has been associated with individuals like Randall "Randy" Shults (born 1953), an American airline pilot who gained recognition for his skilled handling of an emergency landing in 2018 after an engine failure on a Southwest Airlines flight.

Finally, one cannot overlook the contributions of Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000), the acclaimed American cartoonist and creator of the iconic comic strip "Peanuts," featuring beloved characters like Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shults

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

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

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

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