Explore the Family Name Schreckengost

The meaning of Schreckengost

Americanized form of German Schreckengast: from Middle High German schreck (imperative of schrecken ‘to frighten’) + den gast ‘the guest’, presumably a nickname for an unfriendly innkeeper. The surname Schreckengast is virtually non-existing in Germany. Compare Schrecengost, Schrecongost, and Shreckengost.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Schreckengost ranked 24,892 in 2000 and slightly dipped to 25,152 in 2010. This represents a decrease of about 1.04 percent. However, the count of people bearing the surname increased from 938 in the year 2000 to 986 in 2010, marking a growth of 5.12%. The proportion of the Schreckengost surname in the population per 100,000 decreased by 5.71% over this decade, falling from 0.35 to 0.33.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#24,892	#25,152	-1.04%
Count	938	986	5.12%
Proportion per 100k	0.35	0.33	-5.71%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Schreckengost

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that a vast majority of individuals with the Schreckengost surname identified as White, comprising 95.84% in 2000 and decreasing slightly to 94.73% in 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic rose by approximately 26.56%, moving from 1.28% in 2000 to 1.62% in 2010. The representation of those identifying with two or more ethnicities also saw an increase, growing by 36.24% during the same period. However, there was no recorded change for those who identify as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native between these years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.84%	94.73%	-1.16%
Two or More Races	1.49%	2.03%	36.24%
Hispanic	1.28%	1.62%	26.56%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.71%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.75%	0%	0%