Explore the Family Name Berwald

The meaning of Berwald

1. German, Danish, and Swedish: from the ancient Germanic personal name Ber(n)wald, composed of the elements ber(n) ‘bear’ + wald ‘ruler’ but altered by folk etymology as if from German Bär ‘bear’ + Wald ‘forest’. 2. German: in some cases, a habitational name from a place called Bärwalde or Beerwalde, of which there are several examples in eastern Germany. Some characteristic forenames: German Erhardt, Erwin, Klaus, Winfried.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Berwald in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Berwald has seen a decline in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, it ranked 48,776th in popularity and had a count of 406 instances. By 2010, its rank dropped to 53,419th and the count decreased to 387, marking a change of -9.52 in rank and a -4.68 in count. The proportion of this surname per 100,000 people also fell from 0.15 to 0.13, which is a decrease of 13.33%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#48,776	#53,419	-9.52%
Count	406	387	-4.68%
Proportion per 100k	0.15	0.13	-13.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Berwald

As for the ethnicity associated with the surname Berwald, data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that it is overwhelmingly linked with White ethnicity. In 2000, 98.52% of the individuals with this surname identified as White, dropping slightly to 96.90% in 2010. This represents a -1.64 change over the decade. There were no recorded instances of this surname within the Asian/Pacific Islander, Two or more races, Hispanic, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native categories in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	98.52%	96.9%	-1.64%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%