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

Wirth, 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 Wirth surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wirth in America

Wirth is the 3592nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wirth surname appeared 9,907 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Wirth.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wirth 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 Wirth

The surname Wirth originated in Germany and is derived from the German word "wirt", meaning innkeeper or host. It first appeared in the 12th century in the regions of Bavaria and Swabia, where many inns and taverns were located along trade routes.

The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 13th century, such as Henricus Wirt, mentioned in a document from 1243 in the town of Nuremberg. Similar spellings like Wirth, Wyrth, and Wuerth were also common in medieval records.

One notable bearer of the name was Johannes Wirth, a 15th-century German mathematician and astronomer born in Nuremberg around 1437. He is known for his work on planetary motion and the calculation of eclipses.

In the 16th century, the name Wirth appeared in the Duchy of Württemberg, where a village called Wirth existed. This place name likely contributed to the prevalence of the surname in that region.

Another significant figure was Johann Georg Wirth, a German philosopher and theologian born in 1654 in Nuremberg. He wrote extensively on metaphysics and the philosophy of religion.

The surname Wirth also has a long history in Switzerland, particularly in the canton of Zurich. One notable Swiss bearer was Max Wirth, a 19th-century writer and journalist born in 1822 in Winterthur. He was known for his travel writings and his advocacy for Swiss nationalism.

In the 20th century, the name gained prominence in the field of computer science with the work of Niklaus Wirth, a Swiss computer scientist born in 1934 in Winterthur. He is credited with developing several programming languages, including Pascal and Modula-2, and has made significant contributions to compiler design and software engineering.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wirth

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

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

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

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