How common is the surname Schmidt?

147,034 people in the United States had the surname Schmidt in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,100 Americans. It ranked 185th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Schmidt?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Schmidt identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Schmidt?

Brian Schmidt, American-born Australian astrophysicist, followed by Kendall Schmidt.

Where is the surname Schmidt most common?

Wikidata records people named Schmidt in the United States, Austria and Brazil and 3 other countries.

How do you pronounce Schmidt?

Schmidt is /ʃmɪt/, one syllable.

Is the surname Schmidt getting more or less common?

More common. 145,565 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 147,034 in 2010, up 1.0%.

The surname Schmidt

A German occupational surname, carried by 147,034 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ʃmɪt/ 1 syllable Soundex S530

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

Origin

German origin

Borrowed from German Schmidt (“smith”). Doublet of Smid and Smith.

Schmidt 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 147,034 people named Schmidt in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 2,100 Americans. That is up 1.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 145,565.

#185

rank among US surnames

147,034

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+1%

change since 2000 (was #171)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#176	Boyd	153,469	2,012
#177	Rose	153,397	2,013
#178	Stone	153,329	2,014
#179	Salazar	152,703	2,022
#180	Fox	152,334	2,027
#181	Warren	152,147	2,029
#182	Mills	151,942	2,032

Who is named Schmidt

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

95% of people named Schmidt identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.2% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 1.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Schmidts

51 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Brian Schmidt
American-born Australian astrophysicist, born 1967
Kendall Schmidt
American musician, singer, songwriter and actor, born 1990
Oscar Schmidt
Brazilian basketball player (1958–2026)
Franz Schmidt
Austrian composer, cellist and pianist (1874-1939)
Bernhard Schmidt
Baltic German astronomer (1879-1935)
Friedrich von Schmidt
Austrian architect (1825–1891)
João Schmidt
Brazilian association football player, born 1993
Luís Eduardo Schmidt
Brazilian footballer, born 1979
Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt
Astronomer and geophysicist from Germany (1825-1884)
Friedrich Schmidt
Baltic German geologist and botanist (1832–1908)
Karl Patterson Schmidt
American herpetologist (1890–1957)
Kevin Schmidt
American actor, born 1988

Notable Schmidts come mostly from the United States (26), Austria (6) and Brazil (3).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Schmidt

Schmidt has the Soundex code S530, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S530.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Schmidt come from?: Borrowed from German Schmidt (“smith”). Doublet of Smid and Smith.
How common is the surname Schmidt?: 147,034 people in the United States had the surname Schmidt in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 2,100 Americans. It ranked 185th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Schmidt?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Schmidt identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Schmidt?: Brian Schmidt, American-born Australian astrophysicist, followed by Kendall Schmidt.
Where is the surname Schmidt most common?: Wikidata records people named Schmidt in the United States, Austria and Brazil and 3 other countries.
How do you pronounce Schmidt?: Schmidt is /ʃmɪt/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Schmidt?: Schmidt is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Schmidt getting more or less common?: More common. 145,565 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 147,034 in 2010, up 1.0%.