Explore the Family Name Gahr

The meaning of Gahr

1. North German (Gähr): from a short form of an ancient Germanic personal name formed with the element gār, gēr ‘spear’. 2. South German: variant of Gaar.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Gahr saw a decline in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Gahr was ranked 36,860th in terms of popularity, with an estimated count of 571 individuals bearing the name. By 2010, the surname's rank had dropped to 39,352, with an accompanying decrease in the number of people identified as Gahrs to 559. This represents a decrease of approximately 6.76% in rank and a 2.1% decline in the count over the decade. The proportion of Gahrs per 100,000 people also decreased from 0.21 to 0.19, indicating a 9.52% reduction.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#36,860	#39,352	-6.76%
Count	571	559	-2.1%
Proportion per 100k	0.21	0.19	-9.52%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gahr

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Gahr also varied during this ten-year period, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, the majority of individuals with the Gahr surname, about 97.20%, were White, whilst a small fraction, 0.88%, were of Asian/Pacific Islander descent or identified with two or more races. By 2010, there was a slight drop in the percentage of Whites to 95.89%, while the proportion of those identifying with two or more races increased to 1.25%. Interestingly, there was also an emergence of Hispanic ethnic identity among the Gahrs at 1.97%, which was not previously recorded in 2000. There remained no Gahrs who identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native during both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.2%	95.89%	-1.35%
Hispanic	0%	1.97%	0%
Two or More Races	0.88%	1.25%	42.05%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.88%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%