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

Yeiter, 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 Yeiter surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Yeiter in America

Yeiter is the 72105th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Yeiter surname appeared 270 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Yeiter.

We can also compare 2010 data for Yeiter 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 Yeiter

The surname Yeiter primarily originates from the German-speaking regions of Europe, particularly in Germany, where it can be traced back several centuries. It is derived from the Middle High German word "jeit," meaning "goat," and it likely began as a name for goat herders or those who closely worked with goats. The suffix "-er" in German is a common occupational or habitational ending, indicating someone who was a herder of goats.

Historical references to the name Yeiter, or its variants like Jeiter, are not extensively documented in early medieval records. However, it does appear sporadically in local registries and church records throughout the 16th and 17th centuries in regions such as Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The name’s relatively low prevalence makes it more challenging to find in major documents like the Domesday Book, which focuses on English records.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Yeiter is from a church registry in Bavaria around 1587, where a Johann Yeiter was noted as a landholder and tradesman. Another instance is Anna Jeiter, who was recorded in a marriage registry in Stuttgart in 1623. These early entries often reflect minor variations in spelling due to the phonetic interpretations of the scribes.

In the United States, the surname Yeiter appears among the German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and New York in the 18th and 19th centuries. One prominent individual was Michael Yeiter, born in 1782, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1819 and subsequently became a notable farmer in the Lancaster area. Similarly, Hans Yeiter, born in 1745 in Baden-Württemberg, migrated to New York in 1764, contributing to the spreading of the surname in the New World.

Another notable figure is Friedrich Yeiter, born in 1831, who served in the Prussian military before emigrating to the United States in the mid-19th century, settling in Illinois and engaging in farming and local politics. The surname also appears in the records of the American Civil War, with Jacob Yeiter having enlisted in the Union Army in 1862, reflecting the integration of the Yeiter family into American society.

Elisabeth Yeiter, born in 1893 in Hessen, Germany, immigrated to the United States in the 1920s and was a known community leader in the German-American neighborhood in Wisconsin. Her contributions highlight the continued presence and influence of the surname across different eras and locations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Yeiter

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

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

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

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