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

Spreen, 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 Spreen surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Spreen in America

Spreen is the 40016th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Spreen surname appeared 548 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Spreen.

We can also compare 2010 data for Spreen 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 Spreen

The surname Spreen has its origins in the German language, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the late 15th century in the region of Bavaria. It is believed to be derived from the Old German word "sprenz," which means "a sprinkling or a small drop." This suggests that the name may have originally been an occupational surname for someone who worked with liquids or sprinkled substances, such as a brewer or a dyer.

One of the earliest known records of the name appears in a 1487 document from the town of Nürnberg, which refers to a "Hans Spreen." In the following century, the name is also found in the parish records of the nearby town of Erlangen, with a "Catharina Spreen" listed in a baptismal record from 1592.

By the 17th century, the name had spread to other parts of Germany, with several Spreens appearing in the church records of various towns and villages. One notable example is Johann Georg Spreen, a prominent merchant from the city of Hamburg who lived from 1632 to 1698.

As German immigrants began to settle in other parts of Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Spreen name traveled with them. One early American bearer of the name was Johann Christoph Spreen, who arrived in Pennsylvania from the Palatinate region of Germany in 1752.

Other notable individuals with the surname Spreen include:

1. Friedrich von Spreen (1786-1854), a Prussian general who served in the Napoleonic Wars.
2. Adolf Spreen (1847-1923), a German architect best known for his work on the Reichstag building in Berlin.
3. Walter Spreen (1904-1969), a German film director and screenwriter active in the 1930s and 1940s.
4. Dieter Spreen (1911-1988), a German actor who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout his career.
5. Jürgen Spreen (born 1943), a German rower who won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

While the name Spreen is not among the most common surnames globally, it has a rich history spanning several centuries and can be found throughout various regions of Germany, as well as in other parts of Europe and North America where German immigrants settled.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Spreen

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

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

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

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