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

Vandermeer, 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 Vandermeer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Vandermeer in America

Vandermeer is the 16728th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Vandermeer surname appeared 1,710 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 Vandermeer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Vandermeer 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 Vandermeer

The surname Vandermeer originated in the Low Countries, encompassing modern-day Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of northern France, during the medieval period. It is derived from the Dutch words "van der" meaning "from the" and "meer" meaning "lake" or "pond." The name likely referred to someone who lived near a body of water or had some association with a specific lake or pond.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in a 14th-century document from the city of Leiden, where a certain Jan Vandermeer is mentioned. The spelling variations at the time included "van der Meere," "van der Meer," and "van der Meren," reflecting the regional dialects and orthographic conventions of the era.

In the 15th century, the name appears in records from the Duchy of Brabant, where a family of landowners and merchants bearing the Vandermeer surname held significant influence. A notable figure from this lineage was Willem Vandermeer (c. 1430-1498), a prominent merchant and alderman in the city of Antwerp.

During the 16th century, as the Dutch Republic emerged from the Eighty Years' War against Spain, the Vandermeer name gained prominence in various parts of the Netherlands. One notable bearer was Pieter Vandermeer (1550-1622), a renowned painter from Delft whose works included portraiture and religious scenes.

In the 17th century, the Vandermeer family had branches in several Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. A notable figure from this period was Jacobus Vandermeer (1635-1701), a respected jurist and professor of law at the University of Leiden.

As the Dutch colonial empire expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Vandermeer surname spread to other parts of the world, particularly to the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) and the Cape Colony in South Africa. One notable individual from this era was Pieter Vandermeer (1768-1842), a Dutch-born explorer and cartographer who contributed significantly to the mapping of the Indonesian archipelago.

Other notable individuals with the Vandermeer surname throughout history include Johannes Vandermeer (1845-1917), a Dutch-born botanist and plant collector who made significant contributions to the study of South African flora, and Dirk Vandermeer (1901-1978), a Dutch-American architect known for his Art Deco designs in New York City.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Vandermeer

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

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

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

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