Reich Surname History

Origins Available:
Germany
Israel

Etymology of Reich

What does the name Reich mean?

The surname Reich is a metronymic surname, which means that it comes from the given name of the mother of the bearer. The Hebrew name Rachel became Reichel, in German-Yiddish, and it is from this given name that the surname Reich derives. However, there are a few other possibilities. First, 'Reich' can be considered a cognate of 'rich,' meaning wealthy; as such the name Reich would be considered a nickname. Reichenbach has been the name of various towns in Germany; as a surname, it simply indicated where its original bearer lived.

Reich Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Reich, Reiche, Richel, Reicher, Reichelson, Reichman, Reichstein, Reichheim, Reichenthal, Reichner, Reichenbaum and many more.

Reich Ranking

In the United States, the name Reich is the 3,183^rd most popular surname with an estimated 9,948 people with that name. 1

Reich migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Reich Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Thomas Reich, who sailed to New York in 1710
Balthasar Reich, who arrived in New York, NY in 1710 2
Thoms Reich, aged 12, who landed in New York in 1710 2
Maria Dorothea Reich, aged 3, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1733 2
Gottfried Reich, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1733 2
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Reich Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Rafael Reich, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1821 2
Philip Reich, aged 23, who landed in New York, NY in 1850 2
Wilhelm Reich, aged 17, who arrived in New York in 1854 2
Johann Ernst Reich, who arrived in America in 1854 2
Augustus Reich, who landed in Savanna(h), Georgia in 1855 2
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Reich Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Christine Reich, aged 23, who arrived in New York, NY in 1909 2

Reich migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Reich Settlers in Canada in the 20th Century

Alexander Reich, who arrived in Canada in 1907
Phillip Reich, who arrived in Canada in 1907

Reich migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Reich Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Annie Reich, aged 14, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Strathnaver" in 1874

Contemporary Notables of the name Reich (post 1700) +

Charles A. Reich (1928-2019), American legal and social scholar, Professor at Yale Law School, best known for his book The Greening of America
Frank Michael Reich Jr. (b. 1961), former American football quarterback in the National Football League
Robert Bernard Reich (b. 1946), American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator, Secretary of Labor (1993 to 1997)
Otto Juan Reich (b. 1945), Cuban-born, American former senior official in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush
Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
Stephen "Steve" Michael Reich (b. 1936), American composer awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music
Joseph Reich, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New York, 1964 3
Joseph Reich (b. 1894), American Democratic Party politician, Member of New York State Assembly from Kings County 6th District, 1923-25; Member of New York Democratic State Committee, 1936 3
Jonathan Abram Reich, American Democratic Party politician, Candidate for U.S. Representative from Illinois 14th District, 1992 3
Jon Reich, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Ohio, 1972 3
... (Another 13 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Reich family +

Empress of Ireland

Mr. Joseph Alexander M. Reich (d. 1914), British Assistant Steward from United Kingdom who worked aboard the Empress of Ireland and died in the sinking 4

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 8) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
Commemoration Empress of Ireland 2014. (Retrieved 2014, June 17) . Retrieved from http://www.empress2014.ca/seclangen/listepsc1.html