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

Wisner, 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 Wisner surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wisner in America

Wisner is the 7725th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wisner surname appeared 4,296 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 Wisner.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wisner 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 Wisner

The surname Wisner is of German origin and dates back to the 16th century. It is derived from the German word "wiese," which means "meadow" or "pasture." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a meadow or worked as a farmer or herdsman.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in various German-speaking regions, particularly in the areas surrounding modern-day Bavaria and Saxony. Some of the earliest known bearers of the name include Hans Wisner, a landowner in Nuremberg in the late 1500s, and Johann Wisner, a merchant from Leipzig in the early 1600s.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the name began to spread more widely across Europe as German immigrants and settlers moved to other regions. One notable early bearer of the name was Johann Christoph Wisner (1679-1752), a German theologian and philosopher who served as a professor at the University of Jena.

As the name spread, it also underwent various spelling variations, such as Wiesner, Wisener, and Wissner. These variations likely reflect regional differences in pronunciation and spelling conventions.

Over the centuries, the Wisner surname has been associated with several notable individuals across various fields. These include:

1. Henry Wisner (1720-1790), an American lawyer and politician who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention.

2. Moses Wisner (1742-1813), an American military officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

3. Benjamin B. Wisner (1786-1865), an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.

4. Samuel Wisner (1822-1900), an American businessman and politician who served as the 25th Governor of Michigan from 1859 to 1861.

5. Henry Wisner Hilliard (1808-1892), an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as a United States Representative from Alabama and later as the United States Minister to Brazil.

While the name has its roots in Germany, it has since become widely dispersed across various parts of the world, particularly in regions with significant German immigration and settlement.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wisner

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

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

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

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