Explore the Family Name Pfau

The meaning of Pfau

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German pfā, pfāwe ‘peacock’, modern German Pfau. As a German name this is generally a nickname for a vain strutting person or, in some cases, a topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a peacock. As a Jewish name it is generally artificial.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Pfau has seen a bit of a decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Pfau ranked 13,920 in popularity with a count of 1,988 occurrences per 100,000 people. By 2010, it fell slightly to rank 14,842 with 1,996 occurrences. This represents a drop of 6.62% in ranking and an increase of 0.4% in the count, implying that while the name became less common relative to other surnames, the total number of individuals with this surname increased.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#13,920	#14,842	-6.62%
Count	1,988	1,996	0.4%
Proportion per 100k	0.74	0.68	-8.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pfau

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows some interesting shifts for the Pfau surname between 2000 and 2010. The majority of those with this surname identified as White, though this percentage decreased slightly from 96.28% in 2000 to 95.14% in 2010. There was a significant increase in the percentage identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, from 0.86% to 1.50%. There was also an increase in the percentage identifying as Two or more races (from 0.65% to 0.90%), and Hispanic (from 1.91% to 2.20%). No one with this surname identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.28%	95.14%	-1.18%
Hispanic	1.91%	2.2%	15.18%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.86%	1.5%	74.42%
Two or More Races	0.65%	0.9%	38.46%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.3%	0%	0%