# Kolbe (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/kolbe/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,906 |
| US rank (2010) | 15,386 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 161,986 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.1% (1,813 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From the German surname, variant of Kolb.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Kolbe in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 96% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Kolbe in the United States and Germany.

## People named Kolbe

- Winrich Kolbe, American film director
- Jim Kolbe, American politician (1942–2022)
- Peter Kolbe, astronomer (1675-1726) in South Africa

## Similar surnames

Kolb, Kulp, Kilby, Kalb, Klopp, Khalaf, Kulpa, Klipp.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.