Explore the Family Name Oberlin

The meaning of Oberlin

German and Swiss German: from an Alemannic pet form of the German personal name Albrecht. This surname is also found in France (Alsace). Compare Overlin.

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

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

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Oberlin experienced a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname moved down from 15,590 to 16,462, indicating a decline of 5.59% over this ten-year period. However, despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Oberlin surname increased by 1.45%, from 1,721 in 2000 to 1,746 in 2010. The proportion of Oberlins per 100,000 people in the U.S. population also dropped slightly, by 7.81%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#15,590	#16,462	-5.59%
Count	1,721	1,746	1.45%
Proportion per 100k	0.64	0.59	-7.81%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Oberlin

The ethnicity distribution for the surname Oberlin saw some notable changes between 2000 and 2010, as indicated by the Decennial U.S. Census data. The ethnic identity primarily associated with the surname is White, accounting for 96.69% in 2000 and 95.25% in 2010, showcasing a decrease of 1.49%. The Hispanic representation increased by 40.40% over this period, moving from 1.51% to 2.12%. There was also an increase in those identifying as Two or more races, which went up by 13.79%. American Indian and Alaskan Native representation appeared in 2010, accounting for 0.40%. Conversely, the Black representation decreased by 34.62%. Interestingly, Asian/Pacific Islander representation also emerged in the 2010 data, though it was previously suppressed for privacy reasons in the 2000 data.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.69%	95.25%	-1.49%
Hispanic	1.51%	2.12%	40.4%
Two or More Races	1.16%	1.32%	13.79%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.57%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.4%	0%
Black	0.52%	0.34%	-34.62%