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

Sunderman, 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 Sunderman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sunderman in America

Sunderman is the 11759th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sunderman surname appeared 2,664 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 Sunderman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sunderman 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 Sunderman

The surname SUNDERMAN is of German origin, tracing its roots back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have originated in the region of Westphalia, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th century. The name is derived from the Old German words "sunne" meaning "sun" and "man" meaning "man" or "person," suggesting that it was originally an occupational name for someone who worked in a sunny or well-lit environment.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Werdener Urkundenbuch, a collection of documents from the Cistercian monastery in Werden, Essen, dating back to the year 1225. The name appears as "Sunnerman," referring to a landowner or tenant in the area.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name SUNDERMAN began to spread throughout other parts of Germany, particularly in the regions of Saxony and Brandenburg. In the town of Quedlinburg, located in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, records from the 1580s mention a certain Johann SUNDERMAN, a respected merchant and landowner.

As the name gained prominence, it also appeared in various historical documents and manuscripts. One notable example is the Nuremberg Chronicle, a famous illustrated world history book published in 1493, which includes a reference to a "Heinrich SUNDERMAN" among the list of notable citizens of the city of Nuremberg.

In the 18th century, the SUNDERMAN name found its way to the United States, with some of the earliest recorded settlers bearing this surname arriving in Pennsylvania in the 1740s. One of the most prominent figures with this name was John SUNDERMAN (1718-1789), a German immigrant who became a successful farmer and landowner in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Other notable individuals with the SUNDERMAN surname include:

1. Friedrich SUNDERMAN (1810-1892), a German mathematician and astronomer, known for his contributions to the study of celestial mechanics.

2. Maximilian SUNDERMAN (1871-1942), a German-American businessman and philanthropist, who founded the SUNDERMAN Corporation, a successful manufacturing company in Pennsylvania.

3. Dorothy SUNDERMAN (1901-1989), an American philanthropist and patron of the arts, known for her support of various cultural institutions in Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

4. Johann SUNDERMAN (1580-1648), a German composer and organist, who served as the Kapellmeister at the court of Saxe-Weimar during the early 17th century.

5. Wilhelm SUNDERMAN (1832-1903), a German-American civil engineer and architect, who designed several notable buildings in Philadelphia, including the Academy of Music and the Masonic Temple.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sunderman

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

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

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

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