Explore the Family Name Poorman

The meaning of Poorman

Possibly an altered form of German Purrmann, from a variant of the personal name Burgman, from Old High German burg ‘castle, protection’ + man ‘man’.

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

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

The surname Poorman, based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, experienced a slight dip in popularity between 2000 and 2010. While it was ranked 12,273rd in 2000, it dropped to the 12,886th spot in 2010, representing a decrease of roughly 5%. Despite this fall in rank, the total count of individuals bearing the Poorman name actually increased from 2,325 in 2000 to 2,387 in 2010, indicating a growth of approximately 2.67%. However, when adjusted for population, the proportion of people with the Poorman surname per 100k decreased by 5.81% during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,273	#12,886	-4.99%
Count	2,325	2,387	2.67%
Proportion per 100k	0.86	0.81	-5.81%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Poorman

In terms of ethnicity, the Poorman surname has shown some interesting shifts over the decade, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. The largest increase was seen in the Hispanic demographic, which jumped from representing 0.73% of all Poormans in 2000 to 1.38% in 2010, a sizeable growth of 89.04%. There were also notable increases in the Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian/Alaskan Native segments, which grew by 13.46%, 37.6%, and 12.62% respectively. The White segment, however, decreased from 93.08% to 91.45%, a drop of 1.75%. The Two or more races category experienced a modest rise of 3.52%, going from 1.42% to 1.47% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.08%	91.45%	-1.75%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	3.01%	3.39%	12.62%
Black	1.25%	1.72%	37.6%
Two or More Races	1.42%	1.47%	3.52%
Hispanic	0.73%	1.38%	89.04%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.52%	0.59%	13.46%