Explore the Family Name Wunsch

The meaning of Wunsch

German: 1. habitational name from a place called Wunsch (Austria) or Wunscha (Silesia). Compare Wonch. 2. (Wünsch): see Wuensch. Some characteristic forenames: German Eldor, Ernst, Erwin, Gerhard, Kurt, Manfred, Otto.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Wunsch saw a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Wunsch was ranked 16,411 in terms of prevalence, but by 2010 it had slipped to 17,586, representing a drop of 7.16%. The count of people bearing this surname also declined slightly from 1,615 to 1,598, constituting a modest fall of 1.05%. Consequently, the proportion of individuals with the Wunsch surname per 100,000 residents fell by 10% over the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#16,411	#17,586	-7.16%
Count	1,615	1,598	-1.05%
Proportion per 100k	0.6	0.54	-10%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wunsch

Regarding the ethnicity associated with the surname Wunsch, data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the majority identify as White, although there was a marginal reduction from 96.04% in 2000 to 93.68% in 2010. Meanwhile, there was a notable increase in those identifying as Hispanic, which nearly doubled from 1.42% to 2.82%. Additionally, the percentage of people of Asian/Pacific Islander descent rose by 58.62%, albeit from a small base of 0.87% to 1.38%. Notably, there was no recorded change among individuals who identify as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native. The category of two or more races also saw a rise, increasing from 1.42% to 1.88%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.04%	93.68%	-2.46%
Hispanic	1.42%	2.82%	98.59%
Two or More Races	1.42%	1.88%	32.39%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.87%	1.38%	58.62%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%