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

Urfer, 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 Urfer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Urfer in America

Urfer is the 57914th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Urfer surname appeared 351 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 Urfer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Urfer 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 Urfer

The surname "URFER" is believed to have originated in Switzerland, specifically in the German-speaking region known as the Swiss Plateau. This name likely emerged during the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century.

One possible derivation of "URFER" is from the Old High German word "urf," which means "edge" or "border." It could have been used to describe someone who lived near a boundary or on the outskirts of a settlement. Additionally, it may have been associated with a place name containing the element "urf."

In the 15th century, there are records of individuals with the surname "URFER" in various Swiss municipalities, such as Bern and Zurich. One notable figure from this era was Hans Urfer, a merchant and landowner who lived in the city of Lucerne in the late 1400s.

As the surname spread across Switzerland and neighboring regions, it underwent slight variations in spelling, including "Urffer" and "Urfar." These variations were likely due to regional dialects and inconsistencies in record-keeping.

In the 17th century, a notable bearer of the name "URFER" was Johann Jakob Urfer, a Swiss mathematician and astronomer born in 1625. He made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics and worked extensively on improving the accuracy of astronomical calculations.

Moving forward to the 19th century, Franz Urfer (1806-1872) was a Swiss politician and jurist who served as a member of the National Council, the lower house of the Swiss Federal Assembly. He played a crucial role in shaping Switzerland's legal system during his time in office.

Another prominent figure with the surname "URFER" was Theodor Urfer (1859-1938), a Swiss architect renowned for his work in designing public buildings and churches. Some of his notable projects include the Swiss National Museum in Zurich and the St. Antonius Church in Basel.

It is worth mentioning that the surname "URFER" has also been documented in other parts of Europe, such as Germany and Austria, likely due to migration and cultural exchange. However, its roots can be traced back to the Swiss region, where it first emerged and gained prominence.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Urfer

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!