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

Venter, 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 Venter surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Venter in America

Venter is the 34618th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Venter surname appeared 653 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 Venter.

We can also compare 2010 data for Venter 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 Venter

The surname Venter originated in the Dutch-speaking regions of the Netherlands and Belgium. The name is derived from the Dutch word "vent," which means a person or a fellow. It is believed that the name was initially used as a nickname for a person or a group of people.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Venter can be traced back to the 16th century in various Dutch records. One of the earliest known examples is from a baptismal record dated 1564 in the city of Delft, where a child named Cornelis Venter was born to parents with the surname.

In the 17th century, the Venter name appeared in several Dutch colonies, including the Cape Colony in present-day South Africa. This was likely due to the migration of Dutch settlers to the colony during that time period. The earliest recorded instance of the name in South Africa dates back to 1688, when a man named Jacob Venter arrived in the Cape Colony.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the Venter surname continued to spread across various regions, particularly in South Africa, where it became a prominent Afrikaner name. One notable individual bearing the name was Gert Venter, a Boer leader and military commander who fought against the British during the Second Boer War (1899-1902).

In the Netherlands, one of the earliest recorded individuals with the Venter surname was Jacobus Venter, a painter born in Amsterdam in 1687. Another notable figure was Pieter Venter, a Dutch naval officer and explorer who was part of the expedition that discovered the island of Bouvet in the South Atlantic Ocean in 1739.

Other historical figures with the Venter surname include:

1. Gerrit Venter (1828-1891), a South African politician and member of the Volksraad (People's Council) of the South African Republic.
2. Izak David Venter (1856-1922), a South African writer and journalist who wrote extensively about the Second Boer War.
3. Willem Venter (1892-1959), a South African writer and poet known for his Afrikaans literature.
4. Salomon Venter (1915-2001), a South African sculptor and artist renowned for his abstract works.

The surname Venter has been widely dispersed across various countries, particularly in South Africa, where it remains a prominent Afrikaner name. However, its origins can be traced back to the Dutch-speaking regions of the Netherlands and Belgium, where it was initially used as a descriptive nickname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Venter

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

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

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

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