Vaeth last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Vaeth

Of Germanic origin, an occupational name referring to a merchant or trader.

Vaeth, 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 Vaeth surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Vaeth in America

Vaeth is the 35537th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Vaeth surname appeared 633 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 Vaeth.

We can also compare 2010 data for Vaeth 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 35537 35522 0.04%
Count 633 599 5.52%
Proportion per 100k 0.21 0.22 -4.65%

The history of the last name Vaeth

The surname Vaeth is of German origin, tracing its roots back to the medieval period. It is believed to have originated as a topographic name, referring to a person who lived near a small body of water or a stream. The name is derived from the Old High German word "wath," which means "ford" or "shallow part of a river."

One of the earliest known records of the name Vaeth can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of historical documents from the region of Saxony, Germany. In this codex, a person named "Wernherus de Wath" was mentioned in a document dated 1295.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the name Vaeth began to appear in various records across different regions of Germany. For instance, in the town of Erfurt, a person named "Henricus Vath" was recorded in the town's tax rolls in 1349.

In the 15th century, the name Vaeth was also found in other parts of Europe. For example, in the Netherlands, a person named "Jan Vaeth" was mentioned in a document from the city of Utrecht in 1457.

Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the surname Vaeth. One of the earliest was Johann Vaeth (1555-1617), a German theologian and professor at the University of Rostock. Another prominent figure was Johann Sebastian Vaeth (1684-1738), a German composer and organist who served as the court composer for the Duke of Saxe-Coburg.

In the 19th century, Carl Vaeth (1810-1888) was a German philologist and scholar who specialized in the study of ancient Greek literature. His contemporary, Georg Vaeth (1839-1909), was a German painter known for his landscapes and genre scenes.

More recently, Jürgen Vaeth (1928-2011) was a German economist and academic who served as the president of the University of Hamburg from 1982 to 1994.

While the surname Vaeth has its origins in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world due to migration and cultural exchange. However, the name remains relatively uncommon, with pockets of Vaeth families found in various European countries and in areas with significant German heritage.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Vaeth

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

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 Vaeth was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.79% 600
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.58% 10
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 2.05% 13

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.79% 95.99% -1.26%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 1.58% 0.83% 62.24%
Two or More Races (S)% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 2.05% 1.84% 10.80%

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

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

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"Vaeth last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 25, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/vaeth-surname-popularity/.

"Vaeth last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/vaeth-surname-popularity/. Accessed 25 November, 2024

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

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