Winger last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Winger

An occupational surname for a person who made or sold wings for arrows or other projectiles.

Winger, 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 Winger surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Winger in America

Winger is the 7650th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Winger surname appeared 4,342 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 Winger.

We can also compare 2010 data for Winger 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 7650 7127 7.08%
Count 4,342 4,324 0.42%
Proportion per 100k 1.47 1.60 -8.47%

The history of the last name Winger

The surname Winger is of German origin, derived from the Middle High German word "winger," which referred to a vineyard worker or winemaker. This occupation-based surname first emerged in the 12th century in the wine-producing regions of southwestern Germany.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in medieval German records and documents, such as the Codex Diplomaticus Wormatiensis from the 13th century, which mentions a "Conradus Winger" in 1272.

As the name spread across German-speaking regions, variations in spelling emerged, including Winger, Wyngert, Wingert, and Wingerter. Some of these variations may have been influenced by local dialects or place names associated with vineyards or wine production.

One notable historical figure bearing the Winger surname was Johann Winger (1522-1599), a German theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation in the Palatinate region of Germany.

Another prominent individual was Maximilian Winger (1588-1647), a German painter and engraver from Nuremberg, known for his religious works and portraits of nobility.

In the 17th century, the name Winger appeared in the records of German immigrants to North America, including Johann Peter Winger (1655-1723), who settled in Pennsylvania and became a prominent landowner and farmer.

Moving into the 18th century, Johann Georg Winger (1726-1798) was a German composer and organist from Nuremberg, known for his contributions to sacred and instrumental music.

During the 19th century, Johann Adam Winger (1801-1870), a German-American farmer and vintner, established one of the earliest commercial vineyards in Missouri, contributing to the growth of the wine industry in the Midwest.

These examples illustrate the historical significance of the Winger surname, rooted in the wine-making traditions of Germany and later carried across the Atlantic by German immigrants to North America.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Winger

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

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 Winger was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 93.74% 4,070
Non-Hispanic Black Only 1.98% 86
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.55% 24
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.44% 19
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.43% 62
Hispanic Origin 1.87% 81

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 Winger has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 93.74% 95.51% -1.87%
Black 1.98% 1.50% 27.59%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.55% 0.30% 58.82%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.44% 0.42% 4.65%
Two or More Races 1.43% 0.97% 38.33%
Hispanic 1.87% 1.30% 35.96%

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

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

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"Winger last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/winger-surname-popularity/.

"Winger last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/winger-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

Winger last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/winger-surname-popularity/.

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