Weber last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Weber

An occupational surname referring to a weaver.

Weber, 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 Weber surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Weber in America

Weber is the 283rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Weber surname appeared 109,433 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 37 people would have the surname Weber.

We can also compare 2010 data for Weber 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 283 252 11.59%
Count 109,433 107,866 1.44%
Proportion per 100k 37.10 39.99 -7.50%

The history of the last name Weber

The surname WEBER is of German origin, derived from the Middle High German word "wëbære" or "webære", meaning "weaver". It was an occupational name given to those who worked as weavers or cloth makers. This name has been documented as early as the 13th century in various regions of Germany.

The earliest recorded instances of the WEBER surname can be traced back to the town of Augsburg in Bavaria, where a family of weavers was mentioned in a document from the year 1255. Another early record dates back to 1292 in the city of Cologne, where a man named Henricus Weber was listed as a citizen.

During the Middle Ages, the WEBER name was particularly prominent in the textile-producing regions of Germany, such as Saxony, Silesia, and the Rhineland. The name was also found in the areas around the cities of Frankfurt, Nuremberg, and Leipzig, which were important centers of trade and commerce.

One of the earliest known bearers of the WEBER surname was Johannes Weber, a weaver from Nuremberg who lived in the late 14th century. Another notable figure was Hans Weber, a renowned German artist and printmaker who was born in Basle, Switzerland, in 1525 and died in 1592.

In the 16th century, the WEBER name appeared in the famous Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, a museum that houses a vast collection of historical documents and artifacts from the German-speaking regions of Europe.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the WEBER surname continued to spread across various parts of Germany and beyond. Johann Gottfried Weber (1739-1797) was a German composer and music theorist from Freinsheim, while Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) was a renowned German composer, conductor, and pianist from Dresden.

Another notable figure was Max Weber (1864-1920), a German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist who is considered one of the founding fathers of modern sociology. He was born in Erfurt, Prussia, and made significant contributions to the study of social theory and the Protestant work ethic.

Overall, the surname WEBER has a rich history rooted in the textile industry and the German-speaking regions of Europe, with numerous notable bearers contributing to various fields throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Weber

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

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 Weber was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.29% 103,184
Non-Hispanic Black Only 1.29% 1,412
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.63% 689
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.36% 394
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.25% 1,368
Hispanic Origin 2.18% 2,386

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.29% 95.58% -1.36%
Black 1.29% 1.19% 8.06%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.63% 0.46% 31.19%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.36% 0.36% 0.00%
Two or More Races 1.25% 1.00% 22.22%
Hispanic 2.18% 1.41% 42.90%

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

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

Reference this page

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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!

"Weber last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on October 9, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/weber-surname-popularity/.

"Weber last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/weber-surname-popularity/. Accessed 9 October, 2024

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

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