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

Winkler, 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 Winkler surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Winkler in America

Winkler is the 1640th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Winkler surname appeared 21,993 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Winkler.

We can also compare 2010 data for Winkler 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 Winkler

The surname Winkler originates from Germany and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is a occupational name derived from the Middle High German word "winker," meaning "corner" or "angle." This likely referred to someone who lived or worked on a corner or at an angle in a town or village.

In the 13th century, the name appeared in various records and manuscripts, often spelled as "Winckeler" or "Winkelere." One of the earliest recorded instances was in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of Saxon imperial documents from the 12th to 15th centuries.

The name Winkler was also found in the Hanseatic League records from the 14th century, indicating that individuals with this surname were involved in the trading networks of the Hanseatic cities in Northern Europe.

One notable bearer of the name was Johann Winkler, a German astronomer born in 1642 in Wormsdorf, Saxony. He made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and published several works, including "Phaenomena Cometarum" (1668) and "Astronomiae Pars" (1703).

Another prominent figure was Johann Joseph Winkler, a German chemist born in 1670 in Pfronten, Bavaria. He is credited with the discovery of the element germanium in 1886, which he initially called "germanium" after his homeland.

In the 16th century, the name Winkler was also found in various records from the Rhineland region of Germany, such as the city of Cologne. One example is Matthias Winkler, a merchant born in Cologne in 1525, whose name appears in trade records from that period.

The name Winkler can also be traced to place names in Germany, such as Winkel, a town in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and Winkelhaid, a municipality in Bavaria. These place names likely contributed to the formation of the surname in those respective regions.

Other notable individuals with the surname Winkler include August Winkler (1808-1878), a German landscape painter; Clemens Winkler (1838-1904), a German chemist known for his work on rare earth elements; and Karl Winkler (1801-1869), a German painter and lithographer.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Winkler

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

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

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

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