Explore the Family Name Plath

The meaning of Plath

1. North German: habitational name from a place so named in Mecklenburg. 2. East German (of Slavic origin): topographic name from a Germanized Slavic word, such as Lower Sorbian and Polish płot, meaning ‘woven fence’. Some characteristic forenames: German Claus, Erna, Erwin, Wilhelm.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Plath demonstrated a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, Plath was ranked 17,719th most popular surname, but by 2010 it slipped to the rank of 17,980th. Despite this drop in ranking, the actual number of people bearing the Plath surname increased from 1,458 in 2000 to 1,553 in 2010. However, when considering the proportion per 100,000 people, there was a minor decline of 1.85% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#17,719	#17,980	-1.47%
Count	1,458	1,553	6.52%
Proportion per 100k	0.54	0.53	-1.85%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Plath

When looking at the ethnicity of those with the Plath surname, data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals some changes between 2000 and 2010. The majority of individuals identified as White, although this decreased slightly from 94.10% in 2000 to 92.59% in 2010. There was a noteworthy increase in those identifying as belonging to two or more races, growing from 1.30% in 2000 to 1.87% in 2010. The percentage of individuals with the Plath surname who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander fell from 1.17% to 0.77%. Meanwhile, those identifying as Hispanic showed an increase from 3.29% to 4.25%. The percentages for Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities remained stable at 0%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.1%	92.59%	-1.6%
Hispanic	3.29%	4.25%	29.18%
Two or More Races	1.3%	1.87%	43.85%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.17%	0.77%	-34.19%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%