Explore the Family Name Kaufer

The meaning of Kaufer

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) (also Käufer): occupational name for a trader or shopkeeper, from Middle High German koufer, köfer, German Kaufer ‘seller, trader’. The base form kouf (from Latin caupo ‘merchant’) already had this meaning but was subsequently augmented by various suffixes: -er, -el, -man.

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

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

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Kaufer has seen slight fluctuations between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Kaufer ranked as the 38,644th most common name in the United States. By 2010, the rank had dropped slightly to 40,313, marking a decrease of 4.32%. Despite the slight drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Kaufer surname increased marginally from 538 in 2000 to 543 in 2010, an increase of 0.93%. The proportion per 100,000 people also decreased by 10% during this time frame.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#38,644	#40,313	-4.32%
Count	538	543	0.93%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.18	-10%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Kaufer

The ethnic identity associated with the Kaufer surname, as reflected in the Decennial U.S. Census data, is predominantly white, accounting for 97.58% in 2000 and a slightly lower 97.05% in 2010. This represents a small decrease of 0.54% in a decade. The Hispanic representation showed growth from 1.49% in 2000 to 1.84% in 2010, a substantial increase of 23.49%. There were no recorded individuals with the Kaufer surname identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.58%	97.05%	-0.54%
Hispanic	1.49%	1.84%	23.49%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%