Heidtbrink
A German surname derived from a place name containing the word "heide" meaning heath or moor.
According to the 2010 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 103 Americans carry the last name Heidtbrink. That puts it at #160,975 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 3,327,712 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Heidtbrink surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Heidtbrink appeared in the 2010 Census surname file but was not included in the published 2020 file. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames with at least 100 recorded bearers, so this usually means the name fell below that threshold.
Bearers in the US
103
1 in 3,327,712
Census rank
#160,975
2010 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
100
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 100 bearers of the surname Heidtbrink in its 2010 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 160975th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Heidtbrink, the largest self-reported group is White at 95.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.0%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Heidtbrink
The surname HEIDTBRINK has its roots in Germany and dates back to the Middle Ages. The name is believed to have originated in the northern regions of Germany, particularly in areas such as Lower Saxony and Westphalia.
One theory suggests that HEIDTBRINK is derived from the Old German words "heid" or "heide," meaning "heath" or "moor," and "brink," referring to a sloping ground or a raised area. This combination could indicate that the name originally referred to someone who lived near a heathland or on a raised piece of land.
Another possibility is that the name is a compound of the words "heit" or "heiden," meaning "heathen" or "pagan," and "brink," signifying a place or settlement. In this case, the name may have been given to someone who lived in a predominantly non-Christian area or village during the Christianization of Germanic regions.
The earliest known records of the HEIDTBRINK surname can be traced back to the 15th century. One notable example is Johann Heidtbrink, a merchant and landowner who lived in the town of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, in the late 1400s.
In the 16th century, the name appeared in various historical documents, including tax records and land registries, primarily in northern Germany. Some variations in spelling, such as "Heidtbrincke" and "Heydtbrinck," were also found during this period.
Prominent individuals with the HEIDTBRINK surname throughout history include Heinrich Heidtbrink (1588-1662), a Lutheran theologian and professor at the University of Rostock, and Gottfried Heidtbrink (1725-1798), a German composer and organist.
Another notable figure was Anna Heidtbrink (1802-1878), a German writer and educator who published several works on education and children's literature in the 19th century.
In the 20th century, Karl Heidtbrink (1912-1995) was a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, serving as a member of the Bundestag (German parliament) from 1957 to 1976.
The surname HEIDTBRINK has also been associated with various locations in Germany, such as the village of Heidtbrink in Lower Saxony and the Heidtbrinker Moor, a nature reserve near the city of Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Heidtbrink
Among Census respondents with the surname Heidtbrink, the largest self-reported group is White at 95.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.0%).
The bar chart below shows how Heidtbrink bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2010 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Heidtbrink surname at the time of the 2010 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.0%
- Two or more races5.0%
FAQ
Heidtbrink surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Heidtbrink?
Name Census estimates that about 103 living Americans carry the surname Heidtbrink. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 3,327,712 residents.
How common is Heidtbrink?
Heidtbrink ranks #160,975 in the 2010 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2010 Census file counted 100 people with the surname Heidtbrink. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (103), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.03 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.03 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Heidtbrink.
Has Heidtbrink become more or less common over time?
Heidtbrink appears here with 2010 Census data. When additional surname-file years are available for this name, Name Census uses them to show longer-term movement in rank and bearer count.
What does the Census say about the background of Heidtbrink?
Among Census respondents with the surname Heidtbrink, the largest self-reported group is White at 95.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.0%). These figures come from the 2010 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Heidtbrink in the 2010 Census, accounting for 95.0%.
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Heidtbrink appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2010 file are White (95.0%), Two or More Races (5.0%).
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Not necessarily. Heidtbrink appears here with 2010 Census data, while the latest surname file loaded on Name Census is 2020. When a surname drops below the Census publication threshold, older rows can still be kept for historical reference even if the name no longer appears in the newest file.
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Heidtbrink mean?
A German surname derived from a place name containing the word "heide" meaning heath or moor. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2010 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Heidtbrink (0.03 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Heidtbrink?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.