2000
#136,783
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 113
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Weispfenning
A German habitational surname for someone from a place with a certain fen or marsh.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 134 Americans carry the last name Weispfenning. That puts it at #144,270 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,557,868 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Weispfenning surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
134
1 in 2,557,868
Census rank
#144,270
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
117
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 117 bearers of the surname Weispfenning in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 144270th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Weispfenning, the largest self-reported group is White at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Hispanic (0.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Weispfenning
The surname Weispfenning is of German origin, originating from the regions of Bavaria and Saxony around the 13th century. It is believed to be derived from the Old German words "wiz" meaning "white" and "pfenning" meaning "penny" or "coin." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to a person who dealt with white coins or had some association with coinage or money lending.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Weispfenning can be found in the Bavarian town records of Regensburg, dating back to 1357, where a merchant named Konrad Weispfenning is mentioned. The name also appears in various church registers and legal documents from the 14th and 15th centuries in the regions of Saxony and Thuringia.
Notable individuals with the surname Weispfenning include Johann Weispfenning (1532-1601), a prominent Lutheran theologian and author from Saxony, whose works on Protestant doctrine were widely read during the Reformation era. Another notable figure was Christoph Weispfenning (1670-1743), a German jurist and legal scholar from Nuremberg, who wrote extensively on civil law and served as a judge in the city's court system.
In the 18th century, a family of Weispfennings from the town of Eisleben in Saxony-Anhalt produced several notable figures, including Friedrich Weispfenning (1724-1798), a renowned clockmaker and inventor of precision timepieces, and his son, Johann Weispfenning (1762-1832), who followed in his father's footsteps and became a master clockmaker himself.
More recently, there was Karl Weispfenning (1890-1972), a German architect and urban planner who worked extensively in the reconstruction efforts following World War II, particularly in the city of Dresden.
The name Weispfenning has also been associated with various place names and locations throughout Germany, such as the village of Weißpfennig in Saxony-Anhalt, and the Weißpfennigplatz (White Penny Square) in the city of Chemnitz, both of which likely derive their names from historical connections to the surname.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Weispfenning
Among Census respondents with the surname Weispfenning, the largest self-reported group is White at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Hispanic (0.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Weispfenning bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Weispfenning surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.4% · 114
- Two or more races1.7% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Weispfenning
Weispfenning appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#136,449
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 123
+10 bearers (+8.8%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Up 334 places
2020
#144,270
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 117
-6 bearers (-4.9%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Down 7,821 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #136,783 | 113 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #136,449 | 123 | 0.04 | +10 bearers (+8.8%) | Up 334 places |
| 2020 | #144,270 | 117 | 0.04 | -6 bearers (-4.9%) | Down 7,821 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Weispfenning surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #136,449 | #144,270 | -5.7% |
| Count | 123 | 117 | -4.9% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.04 | -2.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Weispfenning bearers went from 123 to 117 (-4.9% change). The surname moved down 7,821 positions in the national ranking, going from #136,449 to #144,270.
FAQ
Weispfenning surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Weispfenning?
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the surname Weispfenning. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,557,868 residents.
How common is Weispfenning?
Weispfenning ranks #144,270 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 117 people with the surname Weispfenning. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (134), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Weispfenning.
Has Weispfenning become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Weispfenning went from 123 recorded bearers to 117. That is a decrease of 6 (-4.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #136,449 to #144,270.
What does the Census say about the background of Weispfenning?
Among Census respondents with the surname Weispfenning, the largest self-reported group is White at 97.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Hispanic (0.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Weispfenning in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.4% (114 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Weispfenning appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (97.4%), Two or More Races (1.7%), Hispanic (0.9%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Weispfenning (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Weispfenning mean?
A German habitational surname for someone from a place with a certain fen or marsh. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Weispfenning (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How common is the surname Weispfenning?
Find out how common the surname Weispfenning is on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.