Explore the Family Name Wurtz

The meaning of Wurtz

German (also Würtz): metonymic occupational name for a vegetable grower or a greengrocer or grower or seller of herbs, from Middle High German würz, wurz ‘plant; herb, seasoning’. In North America, this surname is also an altered form of the variant Wurz. Compare Wuertz.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Wurtz has seen a slight dip in popularity over recent years. In 2000, the name was ranked 11,523rd most popular and had around 2,504 individuals bearing it, which equates to roughly 0.93 per 100,000 people. By 2010, however, the rank dropped to 13,029 with around 2,357 individuals named Wurtz, or about 0.8 per 100,000 people. This represents a decrease of 13.07% in rank and a drop of 5.87% in the count.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#11,523	#13,029	-13.07%
Count	2,504	2,357	-5.87%
Proportion per 100k	0.93	0.8	-13.98%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wurtz

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Wurtz also saw some shifts between 2000 and 2010, as per data from the Decennial U.S. Census. The majority of those with this last name identified as White, although the percentage decreased slightly from 97.84% in 2000 to 96.44% in 2010. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and those reporting two or more races also experienced small decreases in their percentages. Interestingly, there was a significant increase in the percentage of those identifying as Hispanic, moving from 0.92% in 2000 to 2.33% in 2010. There were no changes reported in the Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native categories.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.84%	96.44%	-1.43%
Hispanic	0.92%	2.33%	153.26%
Two or More Races	0.8%	0.76%	-5%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.24%	0.21%	-12.5%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%