Explore the Family Name Hammerschmidt

The meaning of Hammerschmidt

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a smith or for the owner of a forge, from Middle High German hamer ‘hammer’ + smit ‘smith’, German Hammer + Schmidt. Some characteristic forenames: German Kurt, Christoph, Erwin, Hans, Heinz, Helmut, Matthias.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the Hammerschmidt surname in the United States has experienced a slight decline over a decade. In 2000, Hammerschmidt held the rank of 22,688 and rose to 23,354 in 2010, indicating a decrease in usage by 2.94%. However, the number of individuals with the Hammerschmidt surname actually increased from 1,057 to 1,090 during this period, showing a modest growth of 3.12%. The proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 populace dipped slightly by 5.13% from 0.39 to 0.37.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#22,688	#23,354	-2.94%
Count	1,057	1,090	3.12%
Proportion per 100k	0.39	0.37	-5.13%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Hammerschmidt

The ethnicity breakdown of the Hammerschmidt surname, as per the Decennial U.S. Census, shows a predominantly White ethnic identity. In 2000, a staggering 97.92% identified as White, which decreased marginally to 97.25% in 2010. During this time, there was an increase in those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander (from 0.47% to 0.55%) and Two or more races (from 0.66% to 0.92%). The data also showed a new emergence of Hispanic identity in 2010 at 0.92%, where previously there was no representation in 2000. There were no Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native identities reported under this surname for either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.92%	97.25%	-0.68%
Two or More Races	0.66%	0.92%	39.39%
Hispanic	0%	0.92%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.47%	0.55%	17.02%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%