Explore the Family Name Hiter

The meaning of Hiter

1. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name or artificial name from Yiddish hiter ‘protector’, an agent derivative of hitn ‘to protect’. 2. Slovenian: from hiter ‘quick, fast’, but also ‘sly, cunning’, used as a nickname for an agile or possibly rash (or sly, cunning) person.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Hiter saw a decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Hiter ranked 56,392 in popularity among all surnames, but by 2010 it had slipped to 64,559, marking a fall of 14.48%. The number of individuals with this surname also dropped during this time period, with a count of 339 in 2000 dwindling to 308 in 2010, representing a decrease of 9.14%. The proportion of Hiters per 100,000 people similarly fell from 0.13 to 0.1, marking a 23.08% decrease.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#56,392	#64,559	-14.48%
Count	339	308	-9.14%
Proportion per 100k	0.13	0.1	-23.08%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Hiter

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the Hiter surname identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, despite a slight decrease from 87.02% to 82.79% over the decade. Those identifying as Black saw an increase, moving from 11.5% to 13.31%, a rise of 15.74%. Interestingly, the category ‘Two or more races’ appeared in 2010 with a figure of 2.6%, which was not present in the 2000 data. There were no individuals with the Hiter surname who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	87.02%	82.79%	-4.86%
Black	11.5%	13.31%	15.74%
Two or More Races	0%	2.6%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%