Schmidt (surname)

Schmidt is a common German occupational surname derived from the German word "Schmied" meaning "blacksmith" and/or "metalworker". This surname is the German equivalent of "Smith" in the English-speaking world.

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 64.9% of all known bearers of the surname Schmidt were residents of Germany (frequency 1:113), 18.2% of the United States (1:1,809), 3.7% of Brazil (1:5,058), 1.7% of Canada (1:1,936), 1.5% of Austria (1:503), 1.3% of Denmark (1:398), 1.1% of South Africa (1:4,469), 1.1% of Argentina (1:3,635) and 1.0% of France (1:6,167).

In Germany, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:113) in the following states:

• 1. Thuringia (1:60)
• 2. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1:65)
• 3. Saxony-Anhalt (1:66)
• 4. Brandenburg (1:70)
• 5. Hesse (1:84)
• 6. Saarland (1:87)
• 7. Saxony (1:92)
• 8. Schleswig-Holstein (1:95)
• 9. Lower Saxony (1:110)
• 10. Rhineland-Palatinate (1:112)

In Denmark, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:398) only in one region:

• 1. Southern Denmark (1:215)

A–G

• Alexander Schmidt (physiologist) (1831–1894), Baltic German physiologist
• Alfred Schmidt (weightlifter) (1898–1972), Estonian weightlifter and Olympic medalist
• Andreas Schmidt (baritone), born 1960, German classical singer
• Andreas Schmidt (footballer), born 1973, German footballer, twin brother of Oliver Schmidt
• Annie M. G. Schmidt (1911–1995), Dutch writer
• Arno Schmidt (1914–1979), German author and translator
• Arthur Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Bernhard Schmidt (1879–1935), Estonian-German astronomer, inventor of the Schmidt camera
• Boss Schmidt (1880–1932), American major league catcher
• Brian Schmidt (born 1967), U.S.-Australian astrophysicist and Nobel laureate
• Brian L. Schmidt (born 1962), music composer for video games and pinball games
• Bryan Schmidt (born 1981), an American ice hockey player
• Bryan Schmidt (footballer) (born 1995), an Argentine footballer
• Burghart Schmidt (historian) (born 1962), German historian
• Burghart Schmidt born 1942, German philosopher
• Carl Schmidt (chemist) (1822–1894), Baltic German chemist
• Carl Friedrich Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Carmela Schmidt (born 1962), East German freestyle swimmer
• Carolina Schmidt (born 1967), Chilean politician and businesswoman
• Casper Schmidt (1842–1889), American politician
• Charles C. Schmidt (1907–1966), American politician
• Colton Schmidt (born 1990), American football player
• David Schmidt (disambiguation), several people
• Diane Grob Schmidt, American chemist
• Earl W. Schmidt, American jurist and politician
• Eduard Oscar Schmidt (1823–1886), German zoologist and phycologist
• Erhard Schmidt (1876–1959), German mathematician
• Eric Schmidt (born 1955), executive chairman, former CEO, of Google
• Erich Schmidt (archaeologist) (1897–1964), German archaeologist
• Erich Schmidt (historian) (1853–1913) German historian of literature
• Ferenc Schmidt (1941–2011), Hungarian politician and MP
• Firmin Martin Schmidt (1918–2005), American Roman Catholic bishop
• Francis Schmidt (1885–1944), American college baseball coach
• Franklin J. W. Schmidt (1901–1935), American naturalist, brother of Karl Patterson
• Franz Schmidt (1874–1939), Austrian composer
• Frithjof Schmidt (born 1953), German politician
• Fritz Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Gavin Schmidt, Climatologist
• Gerhard Schmidt (crystallographer) (1919–1971), organic chemist and chemical crystallographer
• Gerhard Carl Schmidt (1865–1949), German chemist
• Gerhard Schmidt (art historian) (1924–2010), professor of the history of art
• Gunther Schmidt (born 1939), German mathematician
• Gunter Schmidt (born 1938), German sexologist
• Günter Schmidt (arachnologist) (1926–2016)

H–L

• Hans Christian Schmidt (born 1953), Danish politician
• Hans Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Hans-Thilo Schmidt (1888–1943), German spy for France in the 1930s
• Harald Schmidt (born 1957), German television entertainer
• Harry Schmidt (Air National Guard), US Air National Guard pilot
• Harry Schmidt (USMC) (1886–1968), US Marine Corps general
• Harvey Schmidt (1929–2018), American composer
• Heide Schmidt (born 1948), Austrian politician
• Heinrich Schmidt (philosopher) (1874-1935), German archivist, naturalist, philosopher, professor and disciple of Ernst Haeckel
• Heinrich Schmidt (politician) (1902–1960), NSDAP politician
• SS-Hauptsturmführer Heinrich Schmidt (physician) (1912–2000), medic at Majdanek extermination camp
• Heinrich Julian Schmidt (1818–1886), German journalist
• Heinrich Schmidt (footballer) (born 1912), German footballer
• Helle Thorning-Schmidt (born 1966), Danish Prime Minister
• Helmut Schmidt (footballer) (born 1949), German football player
• Helmut Schmidt (parapsychologist), German parapsychologist
• Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015), German chancellor
• Henry C. Schmidt (born 1937), American historian
• Herbert B. Schmidt (born 1931), German economist
• Howard A. Schmidt (1949–2017), American computer security specialist
• Irmin Schmidt (born 1937), German rock keyboard player
• Isaac Jacob Schmidt (1779–1847), Dutch/Russian linguist and academician
• Jan Schmidt, Czech film director
• Jacques Schmidt (1933–1996), French costume designer
• Jason Schmidt (born 1973), American baseball player
• Jean Schmidt (born 1951), American politician
• Jean Dolores Schmidt (born 1919), American nun better known as Sister Jean
• Joe Schmidt (born 1932), American football player
• Johann Kaspar Schmidt (1806–1856), German philosopher known as Max Stirner
• Johann Anton Schmidt (1823–1905), German botanist
• Joe Schmidt (born 1965), New Zealand rugby union coach
• Johannes Schmidt (biologist) (1877–1933), Danish biologist
• Johannes Schmidt (linguist) (1843–1901), German linguist
• Joost Schmidt (1893–1948), teacher at the Bauhaus
• Jordan Schmidt (born 1989), American music producer
• Josef Friedrich Schmidt (1871–1948), German board game inventor
• Joseph Hermann Schmidt (1804–1852), professor of Obstetrics in Berlin
• Joseph Schmidt (1904–1942), singer, actor
• Julius Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Justin O. Schmidt (entomologist), creator of the index of insect sting pain.
• Jürgen Schmidt (born 1941), German speed skater
• Karl Patterson Schmidt (1890–1957), Chief Curator of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History
• Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884–1976), German painter
• Katherine Schmidt (1899–1978), American artist
• Kendall Schmidt (1990–present), American actor, singer
• Kurt Schmidt (1891–1945), German Lieutenant-General during the Second World War.
• Luís Eduardo Schmidt (born 1979), Brazilian football player

M–Z

• Maarten Schmidt (born 1929), Dutch-American astronomer
• Martin Johann Schmidt (1718–1801), also called Kremser Schmidt Kremserschmidt, Austrian painter
• Max Schmidt (1818–1901), German painter
• Max Schmidt (Waffen-SS) (1920–2002), commandant Fürstengrube subcamp of Auschwitz, March 1944 – January 1945
• Michael Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Mike Schmidt (born 1949), American baseball player, third baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies
• Milt Schmidt (1918–2017), Canadian hockey player
• Monika Schmidt, Australian judge
• Noémie Schmidt (born 1990), Swiss actress
• Olaf Schmidt (born 1962), German glider aerobatic pilot
• Ole Schmidt (1928–2010), Danish conductor and composer
• Oliver Schmidt, born 1973, German footballer, twin brother of Andreas Schmidt (above)
• Olle Schmidt (born 1949), Swedish politician
• Oscar Schmidt (born 1958), Brazilian basketball player
• Otto Schmidt (1891–1956), Soviet scientist
• Paul Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Peter Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Petra Schmidt (born 1963), German soprano
• Pyotr Schmidt (1867–1906, Russian revolutionary of 1905
• Renate Schmidt (born 1943), German Federal Minister for family affairs
• Rob Schmidt (born 1965), American film director and writer
• Sophie Schmidt, Canadian soccer player
• Steve Schmidt, American campaign strategist and public relations expert for the U.S. Republican Party
• Thomas Schmidt (footballer)
• Tim Schmidt (born 1986), Australian rules footballer
• Tony Schmidt (born 1980), German racing driver
• Torsten Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Ulla Schmidt (born 1949), German Federal Minister for health
• Vasili Schmidt (1886–1938), Soviet politician and statesman
• Vera Schmidt (born 1982), Hungarian singer-songwriter
• Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff (1944–2013), German art historian and professor
• Walter Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Wilhelm Schmidt (disambiguation)
• William Schmidt (disambiguation)
• Wolfgang M. Schmidt (born 1933), mathematician

See also

• Smith (surname)
• Schmitt (disambiguation)
• Schmitz
• Schmid
• Schmied
• Smits
• Smeets