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

Spies, 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 Spies surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Spies in America

Spies is the 9279th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Spies surname appeared 3,508 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 Spies.

We can also compare 2010 data for Spies 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 Spies

The surname Spies is of German origin, derived from the Middle High German word "spie" or "spiez," which means "spy" or "scout." This name likely originated in the Middle Ages, when many surnames were derived from occupations or personal characteristics.

The earliest recorded instances of the Spies surname can be traced back to the 14th century in various regions of Germany. For example, records from the city of Nuremberg mention a person named "Cunrat der Spie" in 1348. Additionally, the name appears in documents from the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt in the late 15th century.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spies surname became more widespread across German-speaking territories, such as Bavaria, Saxony, and Silesia. Some notable individuals bearing this name include Johann Spies (1664-1720), a German composer and organist, and Johannes Spies (1691-1770), a German theologian and author.

As German immigration to North America increased in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Spies surname was carried across the Atlantic. One of the earliest recorded instances of this name in the United States dates back to 1748 in Pennsylvania, with the arrival of Johannes Spies from the Palatinate region of Germany.

Another notable figure with the Spies surname was August Spies (1855-1887), a German-American upholsterer and labor activist who was one of the defendants in the famous Haymarket affair in Chicago. He was convicted of conspiracy and executed in 1887, despite maintaining his innocence.

Other historical figures bearing the Spies surname include Johann Christoph Spies (1770-1829), a German lithographer and inventor, and Wilhelm Spies (1809-1883), a German painter and art professor.

The Spies surname has also been associated with various place names throughout Germany, such as Spiesenbach, a small village in Bavaria, and Spiesheim, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate. These place names likely originated from the personal name Spies or its variations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Spies

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

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

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

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