Explore the Family Name Rathgeber

The meaning of Rathgeber

German: occupational name for an adviser or wise man, from Middle High German rātgebe, Middle Low German rātgever ‘giver of advice, counselor’. Some characteristic forenames: German Fritz, Juergen, Kurt.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Rathgeber has seen a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. Initially ranked at 38,524 in 2000, it moved to 40,800 in 2010, indicating a drop of 5.91%. Correspondingly, the count of individuals with this surname also shrank from 540 to 535, a subtle reduction of 0.93%. The proportion of people with the surname per 100,000 also decreased by 10%, moving from 0.2 to 0.18.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#38,524	#40,800	-5.91%
Count	540	535	-0.93%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.18	-10%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Rathgeber

The ethnicity breakdown of the surname Rathgeber underwent some changes between 2000 and 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. The percentage of Asian/Pacific Islanders with the surname increased significantly from 1.11% to 1.87%, marking a 68.47% increase. Interestingly, those identifying as two or more races also emerged in the data, going from 0% in 2000 to 2.43% in 2010. While the surname remains predominately associated with white ethnicity (dropping slightly from 95.56% to 91.96%), the Hispanic representation also climbed from 2.04% to 3.55%, an increase of 74.02%. However, there was no change for Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities within this surname group.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.56%	91.96%	-3.77%
Hispanic	2.04%	3.55%	74.02%
Two or More Races	0%	2.43%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.11%	1.87%	68.47%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%