2000
#12,831
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,200
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.82
Rare Last name
Spahn
A German occupational surname referring to a maker or purveyor of wood shavings or chips.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,429 Americans carry the last name Spahn. That puts it at #13,700 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.71 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 141,109 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Spahn 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.
Bearers in the US
2.4K
1 in 141,109
Census rank
#13,700
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.7
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.1K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,118 bearers of the surname Spahn in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.71 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 13700th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Spahn, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (2.5%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Spahn
The surname Spahn is of German origin and dates back to the 16th century. It is derived from the German word "spahn," meaning "a thin strip of wood or splinter." The name likely originated as a descriptive nickname for someone who worked with wood or lived near a wooded area.
The earliest recorded instances of the surname Spahn can be found in various German church records and tax registers from the 16th and 17th centuries. One notable example is Johann Spahn, a farmer born in Hesse, Germany, in 1610, whose name appears in the local parish records.
In the 18th century, the name Spahn began to spread beyond its original regions in Germany as people migrated to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas. One notable bearer of the name was Johann Philipp Spahn, a German artist born in 1730, who is known for his landscape paintings of the Rhineland region.
The 19th century saw several prominent individuals with the surname Spahn. Christian Spahn, born in 1824 in Prussia, was a German politician and member of the Reichstag, the Imperial Parliament of Germany. In the United States, Peter Spahn, born in 1837 in Bavaria, was a Civil War soldier who fought for the Union Army and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Battle of Gettysburg.
In the 20th century, the name Spahn gained recognition with the baseball player Warren Spahn, born in 1921 in Buffalo, New York. He was a left-handed pitcher who played for the Boston Braves and the Milwaukee Braves, and is considered one of the greatest pitchers in Major League Baseball history. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
Another notable bearer of the surname Spahn was the German philosopher and political scientist Franz Spahn, born in 1901. He was a prominent figure in the Christian Democratic Union party and served as the first Federal Minister of Finance in West Germany after World War II.
Overall, the surname Spahn has a rich history and has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including farmers, artists, politicians, soldiers, and professional athletes. While its origins can be traced back to Germany, the name has spread globally and continues to be carried by individuals of German descent and beyond.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Spahn
Among Census respondents with the surname Spahn, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (2.5%).
The bar chart below shows how Spahn bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 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 Spahn surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.4% · 1,915
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 94
- Two or more races2.5% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 28
- Black or African American0.9% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 7
Timeline
Historical Census data for Spahn
Spahn appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#13,569
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,235
+35 bearers (+1.6%)
Per 100,000 0.76
Rank movement Down 738 places
2020
#13,700
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,118
-117 bearers (-5.2%)
Per 100,000 0.71
Rank movement Down 131 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #12,831 | 2,200 | 0.82 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #13,569 | 2,235 | 0.76 | +35 bearers (+1.6%) | Down 738 places |
| 2020 | #13,700 | 2,118 | 0.71 | -117 bearers (-5.2%) | Down 131 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Spahn surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #13,569 | #13,700 | -1.0% |
| Count | 2,235 | 2,118 | -5.2% |
| Per 100K | 0.76 | 0.71 | -6.8% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Spahn bearers went from 2,235 to 2,118 (-5.2% change). The surname moved down 131 positions in the national ranking, going from #13,569 to #13,700.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Spahn
FAQ
Spahn surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Spahn?
Name Census estimates that about 2,429 living Americans carry the surname Spahn. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 141,109 residents.
How common is Spahn?
Spahn ranks #13,700 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.71 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,118 people with the surname Spahn. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,429), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.71 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.71 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Spahn.
Has Spahn become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Spahn went from 2,235 recorded bearers to 2,118. That is a decrease of 117 (-5.2%). In the national ranking it fell from #13,569 to #13,700.
What does the Census say about the background of Spahn?
Among Census respondents with the surname Spahn, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). These figures come from the 2020 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 Spahn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.4% (1,915 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Spahn appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (90.4%), Hispanic (4.4%), Two or More Races (2.5%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Spahn (2000, 2010, 2020).
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 Spahn mean?
A German occupational surname referring to a maker or purveyor of wood shavings or chips. 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 2020 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 Spahn (0.71 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 people have the surname Spahn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.