How common is the surname Hoffman?

131,401 people in the United States had the surname Hoffman in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,350 Americans. It ranked 224th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Hoffman?

In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Hoffman identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Hoffman?

Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor (1967–2014), followed by Abbie Hoffman.

Where is the surname Hoffman most common?

Wikidata records people named Hoffman in the United States, Australia and Belgium and 1 other country.

Is the surname Hoffman getting more or less common?

Less common. 132,645 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 131,401 in 2010, down 0.9%.

The surname Hoffman

A German occupational surname, carried by 131,401 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex H155

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Hoffman is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

German origin

Anglicised from German Hoffmann, an occupational surname referring to the owner or manager of a piece of land.

Hoffman is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 131,401 people named Hoffman in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 2,350 Americans. That is down 0.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 132,645.

#224

rank among US surnames

131,401

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

-0.9%

change since 2000 (was #195)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#215	Carroll	134,317	2,299
#216	Lane	134,227	2,300
#217	Riley	133,872	2,306
#218	Andrews	133,799	2,308
#219	Alvarado	133,501	2,313
#220	Ray	133,171	2,318
#221	Delgado	132,985	2,322

Who is named Hoffman

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

94% of people named Hoffman identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.3% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.3%
Black (not Hispanic) 1.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Hoffmans

43 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Philip Seymour Hoffman
American actor (1967–2014)
Abbie Hoffman
American activist (1936–1989)
Robert Hoffman
American actor, born 1985
Reid Hoffman
American co-founder of LinkedIn, venture capitalist, and author, born 1967
Rick Hoffman
American actor, born 1970
Alice Hoffman
American novelist, young-adult writer, children's writer (born 1952)
Cooper Hoffman
American film actor, born 2003
Darleane C. Hoffman
American nuclear chemist, 1926–2025
Jeffrey A. Hoffman
American astronaut, born 1944
Joanna Hoffman
American computer developer, born 1955
Michael Hoffman
American film director, born 1956
Leigh Hoffman
Australian track cyclist, born 2000

Notable Hoffmans come mostly from the United States (38), Australia (2) and Belgium (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Hoffman

Hoffman has the Soundex code H155, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code H155.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Hoffman come from?: Anglicised from German Hoffmann, an occupational surname referring to the owner or manager of a piece of land.
How common is the surname Hoffman?: 131,401 people in the United States had the surname Hoffman in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,350 Americans. It ranked 224th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Hoffman?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Hoffman identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Hoffman?: Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor (1967–2014), followed by Abbie Hoffman.
Where is the surname Hoffman most common?: Wikidata records people named Hoffman in the United States, Australia and Belgium and 1 other country.
What type of surname is Hoffman?: Hoffman is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Hoffman getting more or less common?: Less common. 132,645 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 131,401 in 2010, down 0.9%.