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

Zehner, 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 Zehner surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Zehner in America

Zehner is the 13065th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Zehner surname appeared 2,350 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 Zehner.

We can also compare 2010 data for Zehner 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 Zehner

The surname Zehner is of German origin and dates back to the 16th century. It is believed to have originated in the regions of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, where it was first recorded. The name is derived from the Middle High German word "zehener," which means "the tenth one" or "a group of ten."

In medieval times, the name was likely used to refer to a person who was responsible for overseeing a group of ten workers or soldiers. It may also have been given to a person who was born as the tenth child in a family. The earliest recorded spelling of the name appears to be "Zehner" in a document from the town of Nürnberg, dated 1527.

One of the earliest known historical references to the name Zehner comes from a land registry in the town of Augsburg, dating back to the late 16th century. This registry lists a farmer named Hans Zehner, who owned a small plot of land near the town's outskirts. Another early mention of the name can be found in the parish records of the village of Kirchheim unter Teck, where a man named Georg Zehner is listed as a member of the local church in 1612.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the surname Zehner began to spread across various regions of Germany, particularly in the states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Rhineland-Palatinate. Notable individuals with the surname Zehner from this period include Johann Jakob Zehner (1651-1723), a Lutheran theologian and professor at the University of Tübingen, and Andreas Zehner (1714-1778), a celebrated composer and organist from the city of Heidelberg.

As the name Zehner continued to spread throughout Germany, it also found its way into other parts of Europe and eventually to other continents. In the late 19th century, a German immigrant named Karl Zehner (1845-1912) settled in the United States and established a successful farming business in the state of Ohio. Another notable individual with the surname Zehner was the Austrian artist and illustrator Franz Zehner (1865-1938), who was renowned for his intricate etchings and woodcuts.

Other prominent individuals with the surname Zehner include the German politician and diplomat Kurt Zehner (1889-1964), who served as the ambassador to the United States during World War II, and the American entrepreneur and philanthropist John Zehner (1920-2005), who founded the successful computer software company Zehner Corporation.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Zehner

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

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

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

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