Explore the Family Name Forstner

The meaning of Forstner

1. German (also Förstner): variant of Forster. 2. Slovenian (also Forštner): topographic or occupational name for someone who lived or worked in a forest, of German origin (see above and Forster). Some characteristic forenames: German Alois, Gerhard, Erna, Heinz, Ignaz, Ilse, Monika.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Forstner saw a minor decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Forstner was ranked 37,881 in terms of frequency, with a count of 551 occurrences per 100k people. By 2010, the rank had slipped slightly to 38,050, but the count increased by 5.81% to 583 occurrences per 100k people. Despite the shift in ranking and count, the proportion of people with the surname Forstner remained stable at 0.2 per 100k individuals.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#37,881	#38,050	-0.45%
Count	551	583	5.81%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.2	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Forstner

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Forstner also showed some changes between 2000 and 2010 as indicated by the Decennial U.S. Census data. Predominantly associated with the White ethnicity (97.82% in 2000 and 95.20% in 2010), there was a slight decrease of 2.68% over the decade. The Hispanic representation within the Forstner surname group experienced a significant increase from 0.91% in 2000 to 2.92% in 2010. Interestingly, those identifying with two or more races appeared in the 2010 data, making up 0.86% of the Forstners. There were no reported instances of Forstners identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.82%	95.2%	-2.68%
Hispanic	0.91%	2.92%	220.88%
Two or More Races	0%	0.86%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%