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

Wehmeyer, 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 Wehmeyer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wehmeyer in America

Wehmeyer is the 15978th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wehmeyer surname appeared 1,817 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 Wehmeyer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wehmeyer 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 Wehmeyer

The surname WEHMEYER is of German origin, originating in the regions of northern and central Germany during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Middle Low German word "wehmeier," which referred to a tenant farmer or villager who lived on a common meadow or pasture.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname WEHMEYER can be found in medieval documents and records from the 13th and 14th centuries. In these documents, the name appeared with various spellings, such as Weymair, Wehmeyer, and Wehmayer, reflecting the regional variations in pronunciation and spelling at the time.

One of the earliest known bearers of the WEHMEYER surname was Hans Wehmeyer, a farmer who lived in the village of Zittau, Saxony, in the late 14th century. His name is mentioned in a land registry from 1387, which records him as owning a small plot of land on the outskirts of the village.

In the 16th century, the WEHMEYER name appears in several church records and municipal documents from the cities of Hamburg and Bremen. Notable individuals from this period include Johann Wehmeyer (1540-1612), a merchant and alderman in the city of Bremen, and Katharina Wehmeyer (1574-1638), a midwife who practiced in the town of Lüneburg.

As the surname spread throughout Germany over the centuries, it also found its way into other parts of Europe. In the 18th century, there are records of a family of Wehmeyers living in the Netherlands, with Johannes Wehmeyer (1712-1784) being a prominent merchant and landowner in the city of Amsterdam.

Moving into the 19th century, one of the most notable individuals with the WEHMEYER surname was Carl Friedrich Wehmeyer (1815-1892), a German philosopher and writer who was a proponent of the Hegelian school of thought. His works, including "The Essence of Christianity" and "The Philosophy of Religion," were widely read and influential during his lifetime.

Another significant figure was Wilhelm Wehmeyer (1857-1924), a German architect who was instrumental in the design and construction of several iconic buildings in Berlin and other cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His most famous work is the Anhalter Bahnhof, a grand railway station in Berlin that was demolished in the 1960s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wehmeyer

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

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

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

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