# Richter (surname)

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

A surname from German.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | German |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 29,880 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,178 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 10,333 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.2% (29,233 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɹɪkt.ɚ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from German Richter.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Richter 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) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Richter in the United States, Hungary, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire and Austria–Hungary.

## People named Richter

- Burton Richter, American physicist
- Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist
- Andy Richter, American actor and comedian
- Max Richter, British composer (born 1966)
- Hans Richter, Austrian-Hungarian orchestral and operatic conductor (1843-1916)
- Elise Richter, Austrian philologist, scholar of Romance languages, and university teacher, Holocaust vict
- Franz Xaver Richter, Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician
- Jason James Richter, American actor
- Mike Richter, American ice hockey goaltender
- Conrad Richter, American novelist (1890–1968)
- Wendi Richter, American professional wrestler
- Paul Richter, Austrian actor (1895–1961)

and 8 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Rister, Rector, Royster, Restrepo, Rossiter, Rester, Resetar.

## 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.