Warf last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Warf

A surname of uncertain origin, perhaps derived from a place name or occupation.

Warf, 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 Warf surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Warf in America

Warf is the 17883rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Warf surname appeared 1,564 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 Warf.

We can also compare 2010 data for Warf 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 17883 17388 2.81%
Count 1,564 1,497 4.38%
Proportion per 100k 0.53 0.55 -3.70%

The history of the last name Warf

The surname WARF originates from Germany and is believed to have emerged in the 13th century. It is thought to be derived from the Old German word "warf," which means a low-lying meadow or pasture near a body of water. This suggests that the name may have been initially given to someone who lived or worked in such an area.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name WARF can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis, a collection of historical documents from the Margraviate of Brandenburg, dating back to the late 13th century. In this text, a person named "Henricus de Warf" is mentioned, indicating the presence of the surname in the region during that time.

In the 15th century, the name WARF appeared in various records across Germany, including the town of Erfurt, where a merchant named Hans WARF was documented in 1467. The name was also found in the city of Nuremberg, where a family with the surname WARF was known to have resided in the late 1400s.

During the 16th century, the WARF surname began to spread beyond Germany. In England, there are records of a William WARF who was a landowner in the county of Dorset in the early 1500s. Additionally, in the Netherlands, a Dutch artist named Adriaen van der WARF was born in Leiden in 1659 and became renowned for his landscapes and genre paintings.

Notable individuals with the surname WARF throughout history include Johann WARF (1601-1677), a German theologian and author; August WARF (1789-1861), a Prussian military officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars; and Friedrich WARF (1817-1895), a German politician and member of the Prussian House of Representatives.

Another significant figure was Charles WARF (1876-1945), an American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Warf Institute for Medical Research in Wisconsin. This institute played a crucial role in groundbreaking medical discoveries, including the development of anticoagulants and the purification of heparin.

In more recent times, the WARF surname has been associated with several accomplished individuals, such as Carl WARF (1912-2005), an American chemist and inventor who held over 60 patents; and Michael WARF (born 1952), a British author and academic known for his work on sustainable development.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Warf

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

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 Warf was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 91.43% 1,430
Non-Hispanic Black Only 4.09% 64
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.77% 12
Hispanic Origin 2.94% 46

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 91.43% 93.72% -2.47%
Black 4.09% 2.20% 60.10%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% 0.73% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% 0.33% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.77% 1.14% -38.74%
Hispanic 2.94% 1.87% 44.49%

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

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

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"Warf last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/warf-surname-popularity/.

"Warf last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/warf-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

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

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