Explore the Family Name Retzlaff

The meaning of Retzlaff

German (of Slavic origin): variant of Ratzlaff. Some characteristic forenames: German Kurt, Erna, Erwin, Georg, Heinz, Horst, Klaus, Otto, Wolfgang.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Retzlaff saw a subtle shift in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Retzlaff ranked 12,399 in popularity and this slightly decreased to 13,166 by 2010, representing a change of -6.19%. Despite this decrease in rank, the actual count of individuals with this surname increased marginally from 2,297 in 2000 to 2,322 in 2010, a growth of 1.09%. However, the overall proportion of Retzlaffs per 100,000 people dropped by 7.06%, indicating that while the raw numbers grew, they did not keep pace with general population growth.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,399	#13,166	-6.19%
Count	2,297	2,322	1.09%
Proportion per 100k	0.85	0.79	-7.06%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Retzlaff

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals some shifts between 2000 and 2010. The largest group identifying as Retzlaff continued to be those of White ethnicity with 97.04% in 2000 decreasing slightly to 96.43% in 2010. Individuals of Hispanic descent saw an increase from 1.00% to 1.29% over the decade. Retzlaffs identifying as having multiple ethnic identities rose from 1.04% to 1.12%. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian/Alaskan Native also saw increases in their percentages, with the most significant growth observed among individuals of Black ethnicity, increasing by 36.36% albeit from a small base of 0.22% to 0.30%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.04%	96.43%	-0.63%
Hispanic	1%	1.29%	29%
Two or More Races	1.04%	1.12%	7.69%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.44%	0.56%	27.27%
Black	0.22%	0.3%	36.36%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.26%	0.3%	15.38%