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

Wendt, 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 Wendt surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wendt in America

Wendt is the 2838th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wendt surname appeared 12,712 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Wendt.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wendt 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 Wendt

The surname Wendt has its origins in Germany, dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Old German word "went," which means a path or a way. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a particular path or road.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Wendt can be found in various German records and chronicles from the 13th and 14th centuries. For example, a record from the year 1292 mentions a "Johannes Wendt" residing in the town of Lübeck, which was a prominent trading hub in Northern Germany during that time.

In the 15th century, the name appeared in various legal documents and land records in regions such as Bavaria and Saxony. One notable example is a document from 1462 that references a "Hans Wendt," who was a landowner in the village of Elterlein, near the city of Chemnitz.

The name Wendt has also been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One such individual was Johann Wendt, a German theologian and philosopher who lived from 1529 to 1597. He was a prominent figure in the Protestant Reformation and authored several theological works.

Another notable bearer of the name was Georg Wendt, a German painter who lived from 1619 to 1677. He was known for his religious paintings and worked extensively in the cities of Nuremberg and Dresden.

In the 19th century, the name Wendt gained further prominence with the birth of Gustav Wendt, a German-American businessman and philanthropist (1828-1898). He emigrated to the United States in the mid-1800s and became a successful businessman in the brewing industry.

Other notable individuals with the surname Wendt include Alexander Wendt, a German-American philosopher and international relations theorist (born 1958), and the American actor George Wendt, best known for his role as Norm Peterson on the television series "Cheers" (born 1948).

While the name Wendt has its roots in Germany, it has since spread to various other parts of the world, particularly through German emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wendt

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

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

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

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