Explore the Family Name Harnisch

The meaning of Harnisch

German: metonymic occupational name for an armorer, from Middle High German harnasch ‘iron armor’, from Old French harneis ‘equipment, accoutrements (of a soldier or horse)’. Some characteristic forenames: German Fritz, Helmut, Matthias, Uwe.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Harnisch has experienced slight fluctuations in its popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it held rank 37,835 and slightly fell to rank 38,332 in 2010, marking a decrease of 1.31%. However, the number of individuals carrying this surname increased from 552 to 578 in the same period, showing a growth of 4.71%. The proportion per 100,000 people remained stable at 0.2.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#37,835	#38,332	-1.31%
Count	552	578	4.71%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.2	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Harnisch

Regarding ethnicity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census indicates that the majority of the people with the surname Harnisch identify as White, seeing a slight increase from 95.29% in 2000 to 96.19% in 2010. The percentage identifying as Hispanic saw a significant rise, going from 2.17% in 2000 to 2.94% in 2010, an increase of 35.48%. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander were represented in 2000 at 0.91%, but the data was suppressed in 2010 for privacy reasons. Similarly, those identifying as two or more ethnicities decreased from 1.09% in 2000 to no representation in 2010. There was no data available for individuals identifying as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.29%	96.19%	0.94%
Hispanic	2.17%	2.94%	35.48%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.91%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	1.09%	0%	-100%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%