Schmidt

Locally spelled Schmid in CH Switzerland, AT Austria.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Schmidt is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• English53%

  A surname from German [in turn originating as an occupation].

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• German29%

  German surname discussed for d/dt/tt alternation and diminutive suffixes; page compares k- and l-suffix forms, especially -gen(s), -el, -lein.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

  occupation name; here cited as a common surname in towns

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

  a common surname originating as an occupation, equivalent to English Smith

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  zu mhd. smid/Schmied ‘Metallarbeiter’; zeigt dt-Varianz in Schmidt- (18 Typen/1417 Belege).

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 2: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen II, Konsonantismus

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Schmidt, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Xanthe
• Jacob
• Fischer
• Wagner
• John

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Schmidt is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Argentina, United States, Chile, Mexico

  Also written Schmïdt, Sçhmïdt, Schmídt, Sçhmidt

• a separate name3 spellings in the group

  Also written Schmid-T

• Hindi surname12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Sinhala

  Also written Schmitt, শমিট, Schmîdt

• Finnish surname3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Estonia, Finland, Sweden

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Šchmidt

81 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Schmidt is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Schmidt = Smith in the US, the most common name in the western world, borne from Jews and non-Jews, in the Under Rhine district, 1809.

  as a name·The Origin of Jewish Family Names: Morphology and History

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.

• Käthe Kollwitzb. 1867DEnot in their usual nameGerman printmaker and sculptor (1867–1945)
• Helmut Schmidtb. 1918DEChancellor of West Germany (1974–1982)
• Brian Schmidtb. 1967USAmerican-born Australian astrophysicist

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).

53 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 31 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Where does the name Schmidt come from?

Schmidt = Smith in the US, the most common name in the western world, borne from Jews and non-Jews, in the Under Rhine district, 1809. Recorded by The Origin of Jewish Family Names: Morphology and History.

How do you pronounce Schmidt?

It depends on the language: in English /ʃmɪt/ (Wiktionary); in German /ʃmɪt/ (Wiktionary).

What does the name Schmidt mean?

In English, A surname from German [in turn originating as an occupation].

Which countries have the most people with the surname Schmidt?

Mondonomo estimates about 499 thousand people named Schmidt in Germany, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled schmidt. After it come United States, Switzerland, Brazil and Canada; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Schmidt?

In the United States, the national register counted 147,034 people named Schmidt in 2010, about 1 in 2.3 thousand residents.

How common is Schmidt compared with other names?

In Germany, Schmidt is the 2nd most common surname of 765,306 surnames recorded there.