Explore the Family Name Stelzer

The meaning of Stelzer

German: 1. nickname from Middle High German stelzære ‘person with a wooden leg’. 2. habitational name for someone from any of various places called Stelzen.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Stelzer saw a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Stelzer was ranked 13,333 in popularity, but by 2010 it had slipped to 14,046 – a decline of 5.35 percent. Despite this dip in rank, the count of individuals with the Stelzer surname actually increased from 2,097 to 2,144, representing a growth of 2.24 percent. However, the proportion of Stelzers per 100,000 people decreased by 6.41 percent over the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#13,333	#14,046	-5.35%
Count	2,097	2,144	2.24%
Proportion per 100k	0.78	0.73	-6.41%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Stelzer

In terms of ethnic identity, there were some notable shifts among those carrying the Stelzer surname from 2000 to 2010, according to Decennial U.S. Census data. While the percentage of Stelzers identifying as White fell slightly by 1.94 percent to 94.78 percent, other ethnic groups saw increases. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Two or more races rose by 61.54 percent and 55.56 percent respectively, although they still comprise a relatively small portion of Stelzers. The Hispanic population also grew by 52.29 percent. Interestingly, in 2010, we see the appearance of Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native identifiers amongst the Stelzers, whereas these categories were not represented in the 2000 data.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.66%	94.78%	-1.94%
Hispanic	1.53%	2.33%	52.29%
Two or More Races	0.81%	1.26%	55.56%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.52%	0.84%	61.54%
Black	0%	0.56%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.23%	0%