2000
#11,958
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,396
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.89
Rare Last name
Wittig
Derived from a Germanic personal name meaning "white" or "fair-haired."
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,587 Americans carry the last name Wittig. That puts it at #13,015 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.75 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 132,491 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Wittig surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
2.6K
1 in 132,491
Census rank
#13,015
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.8
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.3K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,256 bearers of the surname Wittig in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.75 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 13015th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Wittig, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.6%) and Two or More Races (2.1%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Wittig
The surname Wittig originated in Germany and can be traced back to the 15th century. It is derived from the Middle Low German word "witte" or "wittich," which means "white" or "pale." This suggests that the name may have been initially given as a descriptive nickname to someone with light-colored hair or a pale complexion.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the Wittig name can be found in the town records of Lübeck, a city in northern Germany, dating back to the late 1400s. The name was also present in various other regions of Germany, such as Saxony and Brandenburg, during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Historically, the Wittig surname has been associated with several notable individuals. One such figure was Johann Wittig, a German theologian and reformer who lived from 1515 to 1599. He played a significant role in the Reformation movement and was known for his writings on religious matters.
Another prominent bearer of the Wittig name was Georg Michael Wittig, a German chemist born in 1897. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979 for his work on the synthesis of organic compounds, particularly the Wittig reaction, which bears his name.
In the field of mathematics, Friedrich Wittig (1892-1968) was a renowned German mathematician and logician. He made significant contributions to the foundations of mathematics and was a member of the prestigious Göttingen school of mathematics.
The Wittig surname can also be found in various place names throughout Germany. For instance, there is a small village called Wittingen in Lower Saxony, which may have been named after an early bearer of the Wittig surname or derived from a similar root word.
Over the centuries, the Wittig name has been spelled in various ways, such as Wittich, Wittich, Wittigh, and Wittig. However, the modern standardized spelling is Wittig.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wittig
Among Census respondents with the surname Wittig, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.6%) and Two or More Races (2.1%).
The bar chart below shows how Wittig bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Wittig surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.6% · 2,090
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 81
- Two or more races2.1% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 25
- Black or African American0.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Timeline
Historical Census data for Wittig
Wittig appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#12,981
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,365
-31 bearers (-1.3%)
Per 100,000 0.80
Rank movement Down 1,023 places
2020
#13,015
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,256
-109 bearers (-4.6%)
Per 100,000 0.75
Rank movement Down 34 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #11,958 | 2,396 | 0.89 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #12,981 | 2,365 | 0.80 | -31 bearers (-1.3%) | Down 1,023 places |
| 2020 | #13,015 | 2,256 | 0.75 | -109 bearers (-4.6%) | Down 34 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Wittig surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #12,981 | #13,015 | -0.3% |
| Count | 2,365 | 2,256 | -4.6% |
| Per 100K | 0.80 | 0.75 | -5.7% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Wittig bearers went from 2,365 to 2,256 (-4.6% change). The surname moved down 34 positions in the national ranking, going from #12,981 to #13,015.
FAQ
Wittig surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Wittig?
Name Census estimates that about 2,587 living Americans carry the surname Wittig. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 132,491 residents.
How common is Wittig?
Wittig ranks #13,015 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.75 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,256 people with the surname Wittig. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,587), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.75 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.75 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Wittig.
Has Wittig become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Wittig went from 2,365 recorded bearers to 2,256. That is a decrease of 109 (-4.6%). In the national ranking it fell from #12,981 to #13,015.
What does the Census say about the background of Wittig?
Among Census respondents with the surname Wittig, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.6%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Wittig in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.6% (2,090 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Wittig appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (92.6%), Hispanic (3.6%), Two or More Races (2.1%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Wittig (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Wittig mean?
Derived from a Germanic personal name meaning "white" or "fair-haired." The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Wittig (0.75 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Wittig?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.