How common is the surname Ritter?

33,252 people in the United States had the surname Ritter in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,285 Americans. It ranked 1,053rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Ritter?

Krysten Ritter, American actress (born 1981), followed by Thelma Ritter.

Where is the surname Ritter most common?

Wikidata records people named Ritter in the United States, Austria and the Kingdom of Italy.

Is the surname Ritter getting more or less common?

More common. 32,864 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,252 in 2010, up 1.2%.

The surname Ritter

A German surname, carried by 33,252 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex R360

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Ritter is more common than 99.4% of them.

Origin

German origin

A surname from German.

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 33,252 people named Ritter in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,285 Americans. That is up 1.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 32,864.

#1,053

rank among US surnames

33,252

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+1.2%

change since 2000 (was #970)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,044	Cotton	33,374	9,251
#1,045	Dotson	33,347	9,259
#1,046	McGowan	33,340	9,261
#1,047	Barlow	33,335	9,262
#1,048	Shea	33,329	9,264
#1,049	Ewing	33,314	9,268
#1,050	Bright	33,281	9,277

Who is named Ritter

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

93% of people named Ritter identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.0% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 93%
Black (not Hispanic) 3.0%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Ritters

15 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Krysten Ritter
American actress (born 1981)
Thelma Ritter
American actress and vaudevillian (1902-1969)
John Ritter
American actor (1948–2003)
Jason Ritter
American actor, born 1980
Tex Ritter
American country musician (1905–1974)
Louise Ritter
American high jumper, born 1958
Bill Ritter
American politician, born 1956
Josh Ritter
American musician, born 1976
Tyson Ritter
American singer, born 1984
Christiane Ritter
Austrian author and painter (1897-2000)
Saverio Ritter
Apostolic nuncio (1884–1951)
Tyler Ritter
American actor, born 1985

Notable Ritters come mostly from the United States (13), Austria (1) and the Kingdom of Italy (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Ritter

Ritter has the Soundex code R360, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R360.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Ritter come from?: Ritter is German in origin.
How common is the surname Ritter?: 33,252 people in the United States had the surname Ritter in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,285 Americans. It ranked 1,053rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Ritter?: In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Ritter identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.0% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Ritter?: Krysten Ritter, American actress (born 1981), followed by Thelma Ritter.
Where is the surname Ritter most common?: Wikidata records people named Ritter in the United States, Austria and the Kingdom of Italy.
Is the surname Ritter getting more or less common?: More common. 32,864 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 33,252 in 2010, up 1.2%.