2000
#6,578
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,751
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.76
Rare Last name
Welty
Derived from a German place name meaning "person from the town of Welda" in North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 5,307 Americans carry the last name Welty. That puts it at #6,998 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 1.55 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 64,585 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Welty 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
5.3K
1 in 64,585
Census rank
#6,998
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.5
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
4.6K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 4,628 bearers of the surname Welty in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 1.55 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 6998th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Welty, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Welty
The surname Welty is of German origin and is believed to have originated in the 14th century. It is derived from the Middle High German word "walt," meaning "forest" or "woods," and likely referred to someone who lived near or in a forest.
The earliest known record of the name Welty dates back to the year 1363, when a person named Hans Welty was mentioned in a document from the town of Wertheim, located in the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This suggests that the name was initially concentrated in this region.
In the 15th century, the Welty surname appeared in various records across German-speaking areas, including Switzerland and Austria. One notable example is Johannes Welty, a scholar and theologian who lived from 1435 to 1511 and served as a professor at the University of Heidelberg.
As people migrated from German-speaking regions to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas, the Welty surname spread to different countries. In the 17th century, the name was found in areas such as the Netherlands and France, with variations in spelling such as Weltie and Veltie.
One of the earliest known instances of the Welty surname in America dates back to the late 18th century, when a German immigrant named Johann Welty settled in Pennsylvania. His descendants subsequently spread across various states, including Ohio and Indiana.
Among the notable individuals who bore the Welty surname throughout history are Eudora Welty (1909-2001), an American author and Pulitzer Prize winner known for her short stories and novels set in the American South. Another famous Welty was Paul Welty (1923-2001), an American artist and sculptor known for his abstract expressionist works.
Other individuals with the Welty surname include Johann Welty (1805-1868), a Swiss politician and statesman who served as the President of the Swiss Confederation in 1867, and Wilhelm Welty (1826-1910), a German architect and urban planner who contributed to the design of several cities in Germany and Switzerland.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Welty
Among Census respondents with the surname Welty, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%).
The bar chart below shows how Welty 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 Welty surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.7% · 4,244
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 157
- Two or more races3.3% · 153
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 41
- Black or African American0.4% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 15
Timeline
Historical Census data for Welty
Welty 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
#6,894
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,876
+125 bearers (+2.6%)
Per 100,000 1.65
Rank movement Down 316 places
2020
#6,998
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,628
-248 bearers (-5.1%)
Per 100,000 1.55
Rank movement Down 104 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #6,578 | 4,751 | 1.76 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #6,894 | 4,876 | 1.65 | +125 bearers (+2.6%) | Down 316 places |
| 2020 | #6,998 | 4,628 | 1.55 | -248 bearers (-5.1%) | Down 104 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 Welty 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 | #6,894 | #6,998 | -1.5% |
| Count | 4,876 | 4,628 | -5.1% |
| Per 100K | 1.65 | 1.55 | -6.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Welty bearers went from 4,876 to 4,628 (-5.1% change). The surname moved down 104 positions in the national ranking, going from #6,894 to #6,998.
FAQ
Welty surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Welty?
Name Census estimates that about 5,307 living Americans carry the surname Welty. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 64,585 residents.
How common is Welty?
Welty ranks #6,998 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 1.55 per 100,000 residents, which is about 2 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 4,628 people with the surname Welty. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (5,307), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 1.55 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 1.55 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 2 of them to have the surname Welty.
Has Welty become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Welty went from 4,876 recorded bearers to 4,628. That is a decrease of 248 (-5.1%). In the national ranking it fell from #6,894 to #6,998.
What does the Census say about the background of Welty?
Among Census respondents with the surname Welty, the largest self-reported group is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Welty in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.7% (4,244 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Welty appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (91.7%), Hispanic (3.4%), Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Welty (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 Welty mean?
Derived from a German place name meaning "person from the town of Welda" in North Rhine-Westphalia. 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 Welty (1.55 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 many people have the last name Welty?
Want to know how many people have the last name Welty? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.