2010
#158,432
National surname rank
First available Census row
A surname of Yiddish origin, derived from the German word "witz" meaning witty or clever.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 127 Americans carry the last name Weitzmann. That puts it at #148,665 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,698,853 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Weitzmann 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
127
1 in 2,698,853
Census rank
#148,665
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
111
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 111 bearers of the surname Weitzmann in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 148665th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Weitzmann, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.8%).
Origin
The surname Weitzmann is of German origin, derived from the Old High German word "wiz" meaning "white" and "mann" meaning "man." It likely originated in the medieval period and was initially given as a descriptive name to someone with fair hair or a pale complexion.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Bavarian town of Aichach in 1385, where a Hanns Weitzmann is mentioned in a local record. The name also appears in various forms in other parts of southern Germany, such as Weytzman, Weyssman, and Witzmann.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, as surnames became more widespread and hereditary, the Weitzmann name began to appear in official records across various regions of Germany. In some areas, it was associated with specific occupations or locations, leading to variations like Weitzmannshausen and Weitzmannsdorf.
Notable historical figures with the surname Weitzmann include Johann Christoph Weitzmann, a German painter and engraver born in 1723, who was known for his landscapes and architectural works. Another prominent individual was Carl Friedrich Weitzmann, a German historian and educator born in 1808, who wrote extensively on the history of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War.
In the 19th century, the name gained further recognition with the birth of Carl Weitzmann in 1870, a prominent German industrialist and founder of the Weitzmann & Co. manufacturing company, which produced machinery and equipment for the mining industry.
Another notable figure was Max Weitzmann, a German-born American chemist born in 1879, who made significant contributions to the study of organic chemistry and was a pioneer in the development of synthetic rubber.
Lastly, the name Weitzmann is associated with Walter Weitzmann, a German-born American art historian born in 1915, who specialized in the study of Byzantine and medieval art and served as the director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C.
Demographics
Among Census respondents with the surname Weitzmann, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Weitzmann 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 Weitzmann surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
Timeline
Weitzmann appears in 2 published Census surname files: 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
National surname rank
First available Census row
2020
National surname rank
+9 bearers (+8.8%)
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | #158,432 | 102 | 0.03 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2020 | #148,665 | 111 | 0.04 | +9 bearers (+8.8%) | Up 9,767 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
How has the Weitzmann surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #158,432 | #148,665 | 6.2% |
| Count | 102 | 111 | 8.8% |
| Per 100K | 0.03 | 0.04 | 23.8% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Weitzmann bearers went from 102 to 111 (+8.8% change). The surname moved up 9,767 positions in the national ranking, going from #158,432 to #148,665.
FAQ
Name Census estimates that about 127 living Americans carry the surname Weitzmann. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,698,853 residents.
Weitzmann ranks #148,665 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.
The raw 2020 Census file counted 111 people with the surname Weitzmann. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (127), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
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 Weitzmann.
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Weitzmann went from 102 recorded bearers to 111. That is an increase of 9 (+8.8%). In the national ranking it rose from #158,432 to #148,665.
Among Census respondents with the surname Weitzmann, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.8%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Weitzmann in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.7% (104 people in the source table).
Weitzmann appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (93.7%), Hispanic (3.6%), Asian/Pacific Islander (1.8%). 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.
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 Weitzmann (2010, 2020).
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.
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.
A surname of Yiddish origin, derived from the German word "witz" meaning witty or clever. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
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.
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 Weitzmann (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.
See how common the surname Weitzmann is on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.