Steinhart last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Steinhart

A German surname meaning "stone hearted" or "heart of stone".

Steinhart, 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 Steinhart surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Steinhart in America

Steinhart is the 30076th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Steinhart surname appeared 780 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 Steinhart.

We can also compare 2010 data for Steinhart 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.

20102000Change (%)
Rank30076293592.41%
Count7807592.73%
Proportion per 100k0.260.28-7.41%

The history of the last name Steinhart

The surname Steinhart originates from German-speaking regions of Europe, likely arising in the Middle Ages between the 12th and 15th centuries. It is derived from the German words "stein" meaning stone and "hart" meaning hard, suggesting it may have originally referred to someone living near a rocky or stony area.

The earliest known record of the Steinhart surname dates back to 1283, when a Henricus Steynhart was mentioned in the municipal records of the city of Cologne, Germany. A variant spelling "Steinheardt" appeared in a 1397 document from the town of Freiburg im Breisgau, also in Germany.

In the 15th century, a notable figure named Johannes Steinhart (c. 1420-1479) was a renowned scribe and calligrapher from the German city of Nuremberg. His intricate penmanship and ornate illuminations adorned many manuscripts of the era.

The Steinhart name can also be traced to various place names in Germanic regions, such as Steinharte, a village mentioned in records from the Duchy of Württemberg dating back to the 16th century. This suggests some bearers of the surname may have derived their name from these locales.

In the 17th century, a prominent individual with this surname was Johann Steinhart (1617-1686), a German theologian and philosopher who served as a professor at the University of Leipzig. His works explored topics in metaphysics and ethics.

Another notable figure was Carl Steinhart (1801-1872), a German-born architect and engineer who emigrated to the United States in the mid-19th century. He is best known for designing several iconic buildings in Cincinnati, Ohio, including the Plum Street Temple and the Cincinnati Observatory.

Moving into the modern era, one of the most famous bearers of the Steinhart surname was Henry Steinhart (1886-1971), an American businessman and philanthropist from San Francisco. He co-founded the Steinhart Aquarium, now part of the California Academy of Sciences.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Steinhart

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

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 Steinhart was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only93.46%729
Non-Hispanic Black Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only0.64%5
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races1.28%10
Hispanic Origin3.72%29

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 Steinhart has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

20102000Change (%)
White93.46%95.39%-2.04%
Black(S)%(S)%(S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander0.64%(S)%(S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native(S)%(S)%(S)%
Two or More Races1.28%1.45%-12.45%
Hispanic3.72%2.24%49.66%

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

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

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