Klemm
surname · Latin script
Meaning: from Klem or from MHG klem 'narrow, cramped'
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
/ˈkɫɛm/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Klemm is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Germany than in any other country.
- DEGermany≈1 in 6.8K(inferred from the name graph)
- AUAustralia≈1 in 73K
- USUnited States1 in 112K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Germany (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 285 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 6.8K (inferred from the name graph)
≈12,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Germany, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
- Klemor(measured from records)
- MHGklem(measured from records)
from Klem or from MHG klem 'narrow, cramped'
Sources 1
- Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung
Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Klemm counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE Germany | #509 | ≈12,000 est. | ≈1 in 6.8K | — | Klemm | 167 |
| US United States | — | 2,982 | 1 in 112K | 3K | Klemm | 285 |
| EG Egypt | — | ≈370 est. | ≈1 in 280K | — | Klemm | 2 |
| AU Australia | — | ≈350 est. | ≈1 in 73K | — | Klemm | 92 |
| CA Canada | — | ≈340 est. | ≈1 in 112K | — | Klemm | 44 |
| AT Austria | — | ≈280 est. | ≈1 in 31K | — | Klemm | 37 |
| CH Switzerland | — | 232 | 1 in 36K | 232 | Klemm | 29 |
| FI Finland | — | 176 | 1 in 32K | 176 | — | 4 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames); DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Klemm is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In German, l.from Middle High German klem ‘narrow’, ‘tight’, ‘scarce’, hence a nickname for a thin or inhibited person, or alternatively a topographic name for someone living in a narrow, precipitous place, from the Middle High German noun form klemme ‘constriction’ . 2. short form of the personal name Klemens.
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In Breton, (se) plaindre
as a wordDeshayes, Dictionnaire étymologique du breton (2003)
In Breton, plainte
as a wordDeshayes, Dictionnaire étymologique du breton (2003)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Johann Klemmb. 1593DEOrganist and composer
- Gustav Friedrich Klemmb. 1802DEGerman anthropologist and librarian (1802-1867)
- Walter Klemmb. 1883DEGerman painter (1883-1957)
- Otto Klemmb. 1884DEGerman psychologist and philosopher (1884-1939)
- Kurt Klemmb. 1894DEGerman jurist (1894-1973)
- Wilhelm Klemmb. 1896PLGerman chemist (1896–1985)
- Barbara Klemmb. 1939DEGerman photographer (born 1939)
- Matthias Klemmb. 1941DEGerman artist
- Jon Klemmb. 1970CACanadian ice hockey player
- Matti Klemmb. 1975DEGerman voice actor
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 30 sources across 17 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 3K | #10,715 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 3K | #9,998 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 2.9K | #10,576 |
| CH Switzerland | BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames) | 2024 | 232 | #5,519 |
| FI Finland | DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup) | — | 176 | #8,233 |
| FI Finland | DVV — Sukunimitilasto (Finnish surnames register) | — | 66 | — |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 5
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Klemm mean, and where does it come from?
- from Klem or from MHG klem 'narrow, cramped' Recorded by Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung.
- How do you pronounce Klemm?
- A machine transcription gives /ˈkɫɛm/ (IPA) for English.
- In which country does Klemm have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 12 thousand people named Klemm in Germany, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled klemm.
- How common is the name Klemm?
- In the United States, the national register counted 2,982 people named Klemm in 2010, about 1 in 112 thousand residents.
- How common is Klemm compared with other names?
- In Germany, Klemm is the 509th most common surname of 765,306 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Klemm?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/klemmThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Klemm” — the 509th most common surname in Germany. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.