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

Tobler, 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 Tobler surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tobler in America

Tobler is the 12440th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tobler surname appeared 2,497 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 Tobler.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tobler 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 Tobler

The surname Tobler is of German origin, with its roots tracing back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word "Tobel," which means a small, narrow valley or ravine. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the regions of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria in southern Germany.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Johannes Tobler, a farmer who lived in the village of Oberstenfeld, near Stuttgart, in the late 15th century. Records from that time show that the name was also spelled as "Tobler" and "Tobeler."

In the 16th century, the name began to spread beyond southern Germany. In 1568, a man named Hans Tobler was listed in the records of the city of Zürich, Switzerland, suggesting that the name had made its way across the border.

The name Tobler is also found in historical documents related to the Swiss Reformation. In 1524, a Johannes Tobler was among the delegates from the city of Bern who attended a religious disputation in Zürich, which played a significant role in the spread of Protestantism in Switzerland.

Over the centuries, the Tobler name has been associated with various notable individuals. In the 18th century, Johann Georg Tobler (1703-1765) was a renowned Swiss geographer and cartographer who produced detailed maps of Switzerland and neighboring regions.

Another notable bearer of the name was Titus Tobler (1806-1877), a Swiss writer and scholar who is best known for his travels and research in the Holy Land. His work, "Topographie von Jerusalem und seinen Umgebungen" (Topography of Jerusalem and its Surroundings), published in 1853, was a significant contribution to the study of the geography and archaeology of the region.

In the field of literature, Adolf Tobler (1835-1910) was a Swiss philologist and linguist who made important contributions to the study of Romance languages, particularly French and Provençal.

Moving into the 20th century, Arnold Tobler (1892-1984) was a Swiss architect and urban planner who played a vital role in the development of modern architecture in Switzerland, with his designs for housing projects and public buildings.

Lastly, Titus Tobler (1806-1877), mentioned earlier, had a son named Ferdinand Tobler (1837-1897), who followed in his father's footsteps as a traveler and writer, publishing several books about his journeys in the Middle East and North Africa.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tobler

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

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

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

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