Temme last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Temme

A surname derived from the medieval German personal name "Temo" or "Temmo".

Temme, 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 Temme surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Temme in America

Temme is the 29198th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Temme surname appeared 811 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 Temme.

We can also compare 2010 data for Temme 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 29198 28088 3.88%
Count 811 803 0.99%
Proportion per 100k 0.27 0.30 -10.53%

The history of the last name Temme

The surname "TEMME" is of German origin, and it is believed to have originated in the northern regions of Germany during the medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century. It is derived from the Low German word "temme," which means "tame" or "gentle."

In its earliest form, the name was likely written as "Temmen" or "Temen," which were common spellings in the Low German dialect. Over time, the spelling evolved into the modern form of "TEMME." The name may have been initially given as a nickname or a descriptive term for someone with a gentle or tame demeanor.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name "TEMME" can be found in the records of the city of Lübeck, Germany, where a merchant named Johann Temme is mentioned in a document dated 1487. This suggests that the name was already established in the region by the late 15th century.

Another notable early reference to the name "TEMME" is found in the records of the Hanseatic League, a powerful commercial and defensive alliance of merchant guilds and market towns in Northern Europe during the 13th to 17th centuries. A merchant named Hinrich Temme is recorded as a member of the Hanseatic League in the city of Bremen in the early 16th century.

Over the centuries, several individuals with the surname "TEMME" have achieved prominence in various fields. One example is Johann Dietrich Temme (1767-1834), a German mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.

Another notable figure is Friedrich Temme (1840-1924), a German-born American architect who designed several notable buildings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including the Pabst Mansion and the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

In more recent history, Karl-Heinz Temme (1932-2012) was a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union who served as the Minister of Finance for the state of Lower Saxony from 1976 to 1990.

Heinrich Temme (1921-1998) was a German World War II veteran and author who wrote several books about his experiences as a soldier on the Eastern Front, including "The Forgotten Soldier" and "The Road to Berlin."

Finally, Jürgen Temme (born 1961) is a contemporary German composer and pianist known for his works in the classical and contemporary music genres.

While the surname "TEMME" is not as common as some other German surnames, it has a rich history and has been borne by notable individuals across various fields throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Temme

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

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 Temme was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 96.79% 785
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.74% 6
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.74% 6
Hispanic Origin 1.11% 9

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 96.79% 95.77% 1.06%
Black 0.74% 0.87% -16.15%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.74% 0.87% -16.15%
Hispanic 1.11% 2.24% -67.46%

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

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

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"Temme last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/temme-surname-popularity/.

"Temme last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/temme-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Temme last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/temme-surname-popularity/.

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